LT 


GIFT  or 


Sent  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Charles  R.  Hale,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Late  Bishop  of 
Cairo,  (111.)  and  Coadjutor  of  Springfield. 

Please  kindly  acknowledge  receipt  to  HALE 
MEMORIAL  FUND,  care  The  Young  Churchman 
Co.,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  U.  S.  A. 


Series  of  1913-4 

THE  HALE  LECTURES 

W^ESTERN  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

CHICAGO,  ILL. 


BIOGRAPHICAL    STUDIES   IN 
SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

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i^hHUI^V 


\\ 


STATUE  OF  ST.  COLUMBA 
At  end  o(  Chapel,  lona 


THB  HALE  LECTURES  1913-4 

Biographical  Studies  in 

Scottish  Church 

History 


By 
ANTHONY  MITCHELL,  D.D. 

Bishop  of  Aberdeen  and  Orkney 


Delivered  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Chicago,  niinois 
May  7  to  14, 1914 


Milwaukee 

The  Young  Churchman  Company 

London : 

A.  R.  Mowbray  ft  Co. 

1914 


AfJ- 


COPTBIGHT    BY 

THE  YOUNG  CHURCHMAN   CO., 
1914. 


\^ 


.,ovA 


EXTRACTS 

From  the  Will  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  Reuben 
Hale,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Bishop  Coadjutor  of  Spring- 
field, horn  1837;  consecrated  July  26,  1892;  died 
December  25,  1900. 


^ 


In  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.    Amen. 


I,  Charles  Ejeuben  Hale,  Bishop  of  Caibo,  Bishop 
(yOADJUTOE  of  Springfield,  of  the  City  of  Cairo,  Illinois, 
do  make,  publish,  and  declare  this,  as  and  for  my  Last  Will 
and  Testament,  hereby  revoking  all  former  wills  by  me 
made. 

First.  First  of  all,  I  commit  myself,  soul  and  body, 
into  the  hands  of  Jesus  Christ,  my  Lord  and  Saviour,  in 
Whose  Merits  alone  I  trust,  looking  for  the  Resurrection 
of  the  Body  and  the  Life  of  the  World  to  come. 


Fourteenth.  All  the  rest  and  residue  of  my  Estate, 
personal  and  real,  not  in  this  my  Will  otherwise  spe- 
cifically devised,  wheresoever  situate,  and  whether  legal 
or  equitable,  I  give,  devise,  and  bequeath  to  "The  West- 
ern Theological  Seminary,  Chicago,  Illinois,"  above 
mentioned,  but  nevertheless  In  Trust,  provided  it  shall 
accept  the  trust  by  an  instrument  in  writing  so  stating, 
filed  with  this  Will  in  the  Court  where  probated,  within 
six  months  after  the  probate  of  this  Will — for  the  general 
purpose  of  promoting  the  Catholic  Faith,  in  its  purity 
and  integrity,  as  taught  in  Holy  Scripture,  held  by  the 
Primitive  Church,  summed  up  in  the  Creeds  and  aflSrmed 


2^5829 


vi  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES 

by  the  undisputed  General  Councils,  and,  in  particular,  to 
be  used  only  and  exclusively  for  the  purposes  following, 
to-wit: — 


(2)  The  establishment,  endowment,  publication,  and 
due  circulation  of  Courses  of  Lectures,  to  be  delivered  an- 
nually forever,  to  be  called  "The  Hale  Lectures." 

The  Lectures  shall  treat  of  one  of  the  following  sub- 
jects: 

(a)     Liturgies  and  Liturgies. 

(6)     Church  Hymns  and  Church  Music. 

(c)  The  History  of  the  Eastern  Churches. 

(d)  The  History  of  National  Churches. 

(e)  Contemporaneous  Church  History:  i.e.,  treat- 
ing of  events  happening  since  the  beginning 
of  what  is  called  "The  Oxford  Movement,"  in 
1833. 

It  is  the  aim  of  the  Seminary,  through  the  Hale 
Lectures,  to  make  from  time  to  time  some  valuable 
contributions  to  certain  of  the  Church's  problems, 
without  thereby  committing  itself  to  agreement  with 
the  utterances  of  its  own  selected  Preachers. 


TO 

HIS  CLERICAL  COLLEAGUES,  AND  THE  CONGREGA- 
TION OF  ST.  Paul's  church,   Chicago, 

THIS    VOLUME    IS    DEDICATED^    IN 
MEMORY    OF    MANY    KIND- 
NESSES    RECEIVED. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I. — The  Celtic  Period.     St.  Columba     ..     .        1 
II.— The  Transition  from'  Celtic  to  Koman 

Influence.    St.  Margaret     ....       34 
III. — The  Mediaeval  Period.    Bishop  Elphin- 

STONE  OF  Aberdeen 70 

IV. — The  Keformation  Period.    John  Erskine 

OF  Dun 114 

V. — The  Covenanting  Period.    Egbert  Leigh- 
ton      162 

VI. — The   Days   of  the  Penal   Laws.    John 

Skinner  of  Linshart 213 

VII. — Modern  Times.    John  Dowden,  Bishop  of 

Edinburgh 258 

Appendix  A. — Hymns  Attributed  to  St.  Columba    289 
Appendix  B. — ^Date  and  Authorship  of  St.  Mar- 
garet's  Life 293 

Appendix  C. — Lanfranc's  Letter  to  Margaret   .     295 

Appendix  D. — Assythment 297 

Appendix  E. — Seat  Rents  under  the  Penal  Laws    300 
Appendix  F. — The  Modern  Scottish  Cathedrals    302 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Statue   of    St.    Columba   at   end   of   Chapel, 

loNA Frontispiece 

Opposite 

St.  Columba's  Chapel,  Iona 1 

loNA.    Eeilig  Odhrain  and  Cathedral     ...  16 

St.  Margaret  and  Malcolm  Canmore  ....  34 

Bishop  Elphinstone 70 

King's  College  Chapel,  Arebdeen.  Crown  Tower.  72 
King's  College  Chapel,  Aberdeen.    Interior     .  82 
St.  Machar's  Cathedral,  Aberdeen     ....  88 
Robert   Leighton,  D.D.,   Archbishop  of   Glas- 
gow, 1654 162 

Statue   of   Bishop   John   Skinner   in   St.   An- 
drew's Cathedral,  Aberdeen 212 

Samuel  Seabury,  D.D.,  First  Bishop  of  Connec- 
ticut        248 

Bishop  Seabury's  Mitre.    Preserved  at  Trinity 

College,  Hartford 250 

The  Longacre,  Aberdeen,  1884 252 

Seabury  Memorial  Tablet,  Aberdeen  University  256 

John  Dowden,  D.D.,  Late  Bishop  of  Edinburgh  258 


•2  • •  '  » 


o 


O 
O 

H 


*  •  •  ••  - 

•  •  •  .  • 

•  •  •"   •  • 


I-THE  CELTIC  PERIOD 

Saint  Columba 
Abbot  of  lona  from  563  to  597  A,  D. 

The  noble  and  commanding  figure  of  Co- 
lumba,  the  founder  of  the  famous  monastery  of 
lona  in  the  sixth  century,  stands  more  clearly 
outlined  than  any  other  against  the  dim  back- 
ground of  early  Scottish  Christianity.  Not  that 
the  great  Irish  saint  was  even  amongst  the  earliest 
of  those  missionaries  who  laboured  with  varying 
success  to  bring  the  fierce  inhabitants  of  ancient 
Caledonia  under  the  gentle  yoke  of  Christ,  nor 
that  in  his  own  day  and  generation  he  toiled  alone 
in  that  part  of  the  Lord's  vineyard.  But  he  was 
more  fortunate  than  either  his  predecessors  or  his 
contemporaries  both  in  the  lasting  effect  of  his 
work,  and  in  the  trustworthiness  of  those  records 
of  it  and  of  himself  which  have  come  down  to  us. 

For  Columba's  character  and  achievements 
were  of  that  splendid  quality  which  leaves  an  in- 
delible mark  upon  the  worker's  own  time,  as  well 
as  upon  the  life  of  successive  generations.  And 
we  are  treading  on  solid  historical  ground,  how- 
ever slippery  our  footing  may  sometimes  be,  when 
we  read  the  pages  written  by  Adamnan,  the  kins- 


2  BIOGRAPHICAL  8TUDIE8  IN 

man  and  biographer  of  Columba/  Our  saint  is 
no  shadowy  creation  of  sickly  brains,  but  a  real 
being  of  flesh  and  blood.  Whatever  deductions  it 
may  be  necessary  to  make  in  dealing  with  a  nar- 
rative written  for  an  age  whose  point  of  view  and 
whose  mental  furniture  were  very  different  from 
ours,  we  have  abundant  reason  to  be  grateful  to 
Adamnan  for  information  which  is  priceless. 
"To  Adamnan,"  says  Dr.  Eeeves,'  "is,  indeed, 
owing  the  historic  precision,  and  the  intelligible 
operation,  which  characterize  the  second  stage  of 
the  ancient  Irish  Church.  In  the  absence  of 
his  memoir,  the  Life  of  St.  Columba  would  de- 
generate into  the  foggy,  unreal  species  of  narra- 
tive which  belongs  to  the  Lives  of  his  contempo- 
raries, and  we  should  be  entirely  in  the  dark  on 
many  points  of  discipline  and  belief,  concerning 
which  we  have  now  a  considerable  amount  of 
satisfactory  information." 

Adamnan's  conception  of  his  task  was  indeed 
very  different  from  that  of  a  modem  biographer. 
The  common  everyday  things  which  we  would 
give  much  to  know — ^the  things  that  illustrate 
character,  and  make  bygone  life  and  ancient  cus- 
toms clear  to  us — did  not  seem  to  him  to  be  worthy 
of  special  notice.  We  can  only  glean  such  details 
incidentally.     And  on  the  other  hand  everything 

^Adamnan  was  Columba's  eighth  and  most  outstanding 
successor  in  office  as  Abbot  of  lona. 

^Historians  of  Scotland.    Vol.  VI,  p.  xxx. 


8G0TTI8H  CHURCH  HISTORY  3 

that  seemed  uncommon  and  of  the  supernatural 
order  of  things,  was  exceedingly  precious  in  his 
sight.  In  this,  of  course,  Adamnan  was  merely 
the  child  of  his  age.  The  public  which  read  lives 
of  saints  expected  to  find  eminent  saintship  at- 
tested by  outstanding  miracles,  and  the  much 
wider  public  which  could  not  read  was  more  cred- 
ulous still.  Adamnan  shews  his  sense  of  what 
his  audience  will  expect  of  him  by  the  plan  of 
his  work.*  He  places  in  the  forefront  a  brief 
account  of  some  of  Columba's  miracles,  which,  he 
informs  the  eager  sort  of  his  readers,  is  meant  as 
a  sort  of  appetizer  for  them  {quasi  legentibus 
avide  praegustanda),  from  which  they  may  judge 
of  the  still  more  luscious  courses  (dulciores  quas- 
dam  dapes)y  which  are  to  follow.*  Doubtless  such 
readers  felt  a  gratification  which  we  of  a  later 
age  find  it  difficult  to  share,  at  the  author's  assur- 
ance that  the  miracles  which  he  has  to  relate  are 
so  much  greater  than  those  which  popular  fame 
has  already  published  abroad  regarding  the  saint." 
At  a  later  stage  I  shall  say  what  I  think  of 


''The  Life  is  divided  into  three  books,  the  first  relating 
the  saint's  prophetical  revelations,  the  second  his  miracles, 
while  the  third  gives  the  visions  of  angels  seen  by,  or  in 
connection  with,  him.  Each  chapter  is  as  a  rule  devoted 
to  one  supernatural  occurrence.  There  is  hardly  any  at- 
tempt at  chronological  order,  but  at  the  end  of  the  third 
book  we  find  a  full  account  of  Columba's  last  days  and  of 
his  death. 

*Life:  2nd  Preface.  ^Life:  1st  Preface. 


4  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

these  stories  of  the  miraculous.  We  need  now 
only  to  remember  that  they  are  not  deliberate 
fictions.  Adamnan  thoroughly  believed  in  them, 
and  he  was  evidently  satisfied  as  to  his  authority 
for  relating  them.  He  had  been  born,  like  the 
saint,  in  County  Donegal,  twenty-seven  years  after 
Columba's  death,  and  from  his  earliest  years  he 
would  have  heard  tales  about  his  illustrious  kins- 
man. He  had  spoken  in  his  youth  with  an  aged 
Columban  monk,  who,  on  the  night  that  the  saint 
died,  saw  a  strange  illumination  in  County  Done- 
gal,* and  he  had  conversed  with  others  who  had 
listened  to  the  words  of  one  who  had  been  with 
Columba  in  lona.^  Thus  even  if  it  was  a  century 
after  Columba's  death  before  Adamnan  wrote  the 
famous  Life^  his  links  with  the  past  were  of  a 
real  character. 

Besides,  at  the  date  of  writing  he  had  been 
a  member  of  the  lona  brotherhood  for  probably 
at  least  forty-five  years,*  and  its  Abbot  for  sixteen. 
Thus  he  must  have  been  steeped  in  the  local  tradi- 
tions relating  to  Columba,  to  which  must  be  added 
the  advantage  of  writing  amidst  all  the  sights  and 
sounds  of  lona  itself.  He  had  also  at  his  disposal 
a  memoir  of  Columba^*  written  by  a  former  Abbot, 


^Life  III,  c.  24.        'II,  c.  35. 
®  Reeves.     Historians  of  Scotland,  VI,  p.  dv. 
^  Ibid,  p.  cl. 

^®  This  memoir  he  incorporated  into  his  own  compilation, 
almost  verbatim. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  ^ 

Cummene    the    Fair,    as    well    as    other    written 
sources  of  information. 

The  story  of  Columba's  life,  as  gathered  from 
Adamnan's  work  and  other  ancient  sources,  re- 
veals the  saint  to  us  as  a  devoted  son  of  the  Irish 
Church  from  his  early  years  to  the  day  of  his 
death.  His  removal  to  lona  made  no  real  break 
in  his  connection  with  the  land  of  his  birth.  He 
continued  to  superintend  his  monastic  founda- 
tions in  Ireland  as  long  as  he  lived,  and  on  sev- 
eral occasions  after  his  headquarters  had  been 
established  in  North  Britain  we  find  him  exer- 
cising a  potent  influence  on  Irish  affairs.  What 
is  now  the  County  of  Argyll  was  in  Columba's 
day  simply  a  part  of  Ireland  across  the  sea,  and 
even  the  name  Scotland  belonged  to  Ireland  until 
the  tenth  century."  It  is  important  to  remember 
these  facts  w^hen  we  study  such  peculiar  features 
of  Columban  Christianity  in  Scotland  as  its  ex- 
clusively monastic  organization,  the  irregular 
position  of  its  Bishops,  its  obsolete  method  of 
dating  Easter,  and  the  unusual  shape  of  the  ton- 
sure of  its  monks.  These  were  part  and  parcel 
of  the  Church  system  of  Ireland  in  Columba's 
day.  It  was  a  system  which  exhibited  the  free 
Galilean  spirit  of  Western  Christianity  in  per- 
haps its  most  luxuriant  form,  with  an  unrivalled 


"  What  is  now  called  Scotland  was  known  in  early  times 
as  Caledonia,  or  Alban. 


6  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

personal  devotion  and  enthusiasm  on  the  one 
hand,  and  a  characteristic  carelessness  about  ster- 
eotyped fashions  and  rigid  organization  on  the 
other. 

Columba  was  born  in  County  Donegal  in  the 
year  521,  at  Gartan,  a  scene  of  wild  loveliness 
on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  Derryveigh  Hills. 
There  are  several  ancient  ecclesiastical  ruins  in 
the  vicinity,  and  a  small  heap  of  stones  not  far 
from  Loch  Gartan  is  pointed  out  as  the  saint's 
actual  birthplace.  The  simple  folk  of  the  country- 
side still  believe  that  whoever  sleeps  a  night  upon 
Columkille's  stone  before  emigrating  will  be  free 
from  "thinking  long,"  or  home-sickness,  and  leg- 
ends of  Columba  still  linger  in  the  district.  His 
father,  Fedhlimidh  (Phelim),  was  a  member  of 
the  clan  of  the  O'Donnels,  and  a  descendant  of 
Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  king  of  Ireland  from 
A.  D.  379  to  405.  Columba  was  thus  nearly  re- 
lated to  the  reigning  families  in  Ireland  and  in 
Argyll,  and  according  to  Keeves  was  himself 
"eligible  to  the  sovereignty"  of  Ireland.''  His 
mother,  Eithne  of  Leinster,  was  also  of  royal 
descent. 

Columba's  royal  birth  was,  it  is  easy  to  im- 
agine, a  very  important  factor  in  his  ecclesiastical 
career,  and  made  many  things  possible  to  him  that 
would  have  been  beyond  the  reach  of  other  men. 


^  Historians,  p.  243. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  7 

While  he  was  by  character  and  attainments  a 
born  leader  of  men,  his  exalted  relationships 
opened  many  a  door  to  him,  and  smoothed  away 
many  a  difficulty.  When  Adamnan  tells  ns  of 
his  intimacy  with  various  royal  personages,  he  is 
not  romancing,  but  simply  illustrating  the  excep- 
tional position  which  Columba's  birth  secured  to 
him  wherever  he  went.  Thus  we  learn  that  Brude, 
the  king  of  the  Picts,  after  his  conversion  at  In- 
verness, held  Columba  in  peculiar  reverence  (valde 
magna  honoravit,  ut  decuit,  honorificentia) y""  that 
King  Roderick,  who  reigned  at  Dunbarton  over 
the  Britons  of  Strathclyde,  was  his  friend,'*  that 
the  Irish  King  Dermit  came  to  see  him  during 
one  of  his  journeys  in  Ireland,"  that  he  stayed 
on  occasion  with  his  kinsman  Conall,  king  of  the 
Scots  in  Argyll,"  and  that  on  ConalFs  death  he 
ordained  Aidan  as  successor  to  the  kingdom." 

According  to  local  tradition,  the  infant  prince- 
ling was  baptized  at  Temple  Douglas,  a  few  miles 
distant  from  Gartan,  where  the  ruins  of  an  ancient 
church  still  exist.  He  is  said  to  have  been  given 
two  baptismal  names,  Crimthann,  a  wolf,  and  Co- 
lum,  a  dove."  If  that  be  so,  his  naming  was  very 
prophetic  of  the  strange  blending  in  his  character, 
of  the  passionate  feelings  inherited  from  warlike 
ancestors,  and  the  gentle  disposition  of  a  servant 
of  Christ. 


»  Life,  II,  36.  "  I,  8.  » I,  8.  "  I,  7. 

"Ill,  6.  "Dowden.     Celtic  Scotland,  p.  86. 


8  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

The  name  Columkille,  or  Colum  of  the 
Church,  by  which  he  was  afterwards  known,  may 
be  taken  as  an  indication  of  the  saint's  youthful 
bent  of  mind.  He  appears  from  the  first  to  have 
been  distinguished  for  piety  and  the  love  of 
learning.  As  a  young  man  he  attended  the  mon- 
astic school  of  the  famous  Bishop  St.  Einnian  or 
Findbarr  of  Moville,  at  the  head  of  Strangford 
Lough.  There  he  was  ordained  deacon,  and,  ac- 
cording to  Adamnan,  it  was  there  also  where  he 
gave  the  first  proof  of  his  miraculous  power,  by 
changing  water  into  wine."  While  still  in  dea- 
con's orders  Columba  went  to  Leinster,  his 
mother's  county,  to  study  divine  wisdom  (divi- 
nam  addiscens  sapientian)  under  the  aged  bard 
Gemman.*''  Doubtless  these  studies  were  of  a  more 
secular  character  than  Adamnan's  words  would 
suggest.  Columba  was  in  all  probability  a  com- 
poser of  poems"  both  in  Latin  and  in  Irish,  and 
he  became  in  later  days  the  patron  and  protector 
of  the  Irish  bards.  We  are  indebted  for  our  in- 
formation as  to  this  period  of  secular  study  to  the 
fact  that  Adamnan  relates  an  instance  of  the 
saint's  terrible  punishments  of  his  enemies  (de 
adversariorum  terrificis  ultionibus) ,  in  which  the 
murderer  of  a  young  girl  drops  dead  in  the  pres- 


"Ltfe,  II,  Chap.  1.        ^'II,  26. 

"See  Appendix  A.     Hymns  Attributed  to  8t.  Columba, 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  9 

ence  of  Gemman  and  his  pupil,  on  the  latter  pro- 
nouncing sentence  upon  the  criminal/' 

After  this  interlude  our  youthful  cleric  moved 
back  to  a  more  ecclesiastical  atmosphere,  at  the 
monastery  of  Clonard,  where  another  St.  Finnian 
presided  over- what  was  the  most  famous  school 
of  ecclesiastical  learning  in  Ireland  at  that  time. 
Here  he  met  a  number  of  students  who  afterwards 
became,  like  himself,  famous  in  the  Irish  Church, 
amongst  them  being  SS.  Comgall,  Kenneth,  and 
Kiaran.  At  this  time  he  was  admitted  to  the 
priesthood.  According  to  a  legend  of  later  days 
he  was  ordained  by  Etchen,  Bishop  of  Clonfad, 
who  through  some  mistake  failed  to  advance  the 
young  monk  to  the  episcopate  at  the  same  time, 
as  he  should  have  done. 

After  some  years  Columba  removed  to  another 
monastery,  at  Glasnevin,  near  Dublin,  from  which 
he  emerged  as  a  leader  himself  in  a  work  of 
Church  extension,  which  probably  occupied  the 
next  fifteen  years  of  his  life.  At  the  end  of  this 
period  we  find  him  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  at 
the  full  tide  of  his  fame  as  a  father  and  founder 
of  churches  and  monasteries  in  Ireland  (monas- 
teriorum  pater  et  fundator),^^  Dr.  Reeves  gives 
a  list,  which  is  not  exhaustive,  of  thirty-seven 
churches  in  Ireland  which  were  either  founded 
by  him,  or  in  which  his  memory  was  specially 


*  Life,  II,  26.        28  i^if^^  2nd  Preface. 


10  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

venerated.  Among  these  were  the  monastery  of 
Durrow,  often  mentioned  in  the  Life,  one  of  the 
earliest  and  most  important  of  his  foundations, 
the  Black  Church  of  Derry,  and  the  monastery 
which  produced  the  superbly  decorated  Book  of 
Kells. 

It  was  now  that  the  impulse  came  to  Columba, 
which  turned  his  energies  into  a  new  channel, 
and  which  was  fraught  with  so  much  blessing  for 
Scotland.  In  the  year  563  he  sailed  northward 
with  twelve  companions,  and  founded  on  the  little 
island  of  lona  the  famous  monastery  which  was 
to  be  for  centuries  the  most  important  centre  of 
Scottish  Christianity. 

A  glance  at  the  political  and  ecclesiastical 
state  of  North  Britain  at  this  period  will  show 
the  situation  which  awaited  the  band  of  mission- 
aries. The  withdrawal  of  the  legions,  which  ter- 
minated the  Roman  occupation  of  Britain,""*  had 
been  followed  at  first  by  a  period  of  turbulence 
and  anarchy.  In  the  course  of  a  century  or  more, 
however,  a  number  of  petty  kingdoms  had 
emerged.  By  Columba's  time  the  Britons  of 
Strathclyde  had  been  consolidated  under  King 
Roderick,  in  a  territory  stretching  from  Dunbar- 
ton  on  the  Clyde  to  the  river  Derwent  in  Cumber- 
land, while  the  Picts  of  the  North  owed  allegiance 
to  King  Brude  whose  seat  was  at  Inverness.     The 


'  This  lasted  roughly  from  43  to  410  A.  D. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  11 

eastern  coast  south  of  the  Forth  was  occupied  by 
Angles  who  had  sailed  in  their  galleys  across  the 
North  sea  from  Schleswig,  and  formed  the  king- 
dom of  Bernicia.  In  the  west  a  similar  invasion 
had  begun  more  than  twenty  years  before  Colum- 
ba's  birth.  The  Dalriadic  Scots  of  Ireland  in  the 
days  of  Fergus  Macerc  had  begun  to  establish 
themselves  in  what  is  now  the  county  of  Argyll, 
and  at  the  date  of  Columba's  arrival  they  were 
firmly  established  in  the  country  to  which  they 
were  to  give  a  name,  under  King  Conall,  a  kins- 
man of  the  saint. 

Of  these  different  races  two  were  at  least 
nominally  Christian,  the  Scots  and  the  Britons, 
while  the  Picts  and  the  Angles  were  still  heathen. 
Amongst  the  Britons,  the  famous  Bishop  Kenti- 
gern  or  Mungo,''''  the  patron  saint  of  Glasgow,  was 
still  labouring,  under  the  protection  of  King  Eod- 
erick,  and  scattered  here  and  there  throughout  the 
country  were  those  Christian  settlements  which  had 
survived  the  deluge  of  barbarism  that  swept  away 
so  much  of  the  work  of  St.  Ninian  and  his  con- 
temporaries.   Of  these  early  missionaries  we  know 


"Jocelin,  the  biographer  of  St.  Kentigern,  relates  that 
Columba  once  visited  the  British  Bishop  at  Glasgow.  The  two 
saints  met  with  stately  ceremony,  their  attendants  singing 
psalms  and  spiritual  songs,  on  the  banks  of  the  Molendinar 
burn,  where  St.  Mungo's  Cathedral  still  stands.  They  em- 
braced and  kissed  on  meeting,  and  when  the  time  for  parting 
came,  they  exchanged  their  pastoral  staves,  as  a  pledge  of 
mutual  love  in  Christ.    {Vita  Kentigerni,  c.  c.  39  and  40.) 


12  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

little  that  is  certain.  Ninian's  biography  was 
written  some  seven  hundred  years  after  his  death 
and  cannot  be  relied  upon.  A  Briton  born  on  the 
shores  of  the  Solway,  he  was  consecrated  to  the 
Episcopal  office  by  the  Bishop  of  Kome  towards 
the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  and  on  his  return 
home  he  founded  the  famous  church  and  mon- 
astery of  Candida  Casa  at  Whithorn  in  Wigton- 
shire.  Of  Palladius,  Ternan,  and  Serf,  we  know 
even  less.  Their  names  are  still  preserved  in  dif- 
ferent localities  in  Aberdeenshire  and  Kincar- 
dineshire, and  we  may  presume  that  they  shared 
or  continued  E'inian's  work  amongst  the  Picts  in 
that  part  of  the  country." 

It  was  inevitable  that  the  settlement  of  the 
Scots  in  Argyll  should  awaken  into  fervour  the 
latent  missionary  spirit  of  Irish  monks  and  cler- 
ics. Unless  their  kinsmen  in  New  Scotland  were 
to  be  lost  to  Christianity,  they  must  be  followed 
and  shepherded  and  built  up  in  the  faith.  There 
was  also  the  great  mission  field  of  Pictland,  lying 
white  unto  the  harvest  across  the  dorsal  ridge  of 
Britain,"  with  its  clear  challenge  to  the  soldiers 
of  Christ,  and  its  bristling  array  of  difficulties  and 


*•  See  Dowden,  Celtic  Church  in  Scotland,  for  an  excel- 
lent and  brief  account  of  pre-Columban  Christianity  in 
Scotland. 

*'The  range  of  mountains,  later  known  as  the  Mounth, 
which  stretches  across  Scotland  from  Fort  William  to  the 
neighbourhood  of  Aberdeen. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  13 

dangers  to  try  their  mettle.  In  Columba's  day 
the  romance  of  Irish  Christianity  lay  in  the  ad- 
ventures and  triumphs  which  the  new  colony 
offered. 

Doubtless  many  an  unknown  and  unrecorded 
missionary  responded  to  this  great  appeal.  We 
know  at  any  rate  the  names  of  some  who  did  re- 
spond, either  by  settling  permanently  as  Columba 
did,  or  by  paying  frequent  visits  to  the  land  of 
promise.  Of  the  former  class  were  Donnan  of 
Eigg,  Moluag,  Bishop  of  Lismore,  and  Maelrubba 
of  Applecross  in  Eoss-shire.''*  Amongst  the  latter 
were  Finbarr,  Comgall,  Brendan,  Konan,  and 
many  others.^  Thus  it  is  clear  that  to  one  of 
Columba's  character  and  zeal  the  call  of  New  Scot- 
land must  sooner  or  later  have  made  itself  heard. 

Possibly,  however,  there  were  other  reasons 
for  Columba's  departure  from  Ireland.  His 
proud  and  passionate  spirit  was  apt  at  times  to 
break  out  disastrously.  Two  years  before  he  came 
to  lona  a  bloody  battle  had  been  fought  at  Cool- 
drevny,  near  Sligo,  in  which  he  is  supposed  to 
have  been  implicated.  The  cause  is  said  to  have 
been  a  dispute  between  Columba  and  his  former 
teacher,  Finnian  of  Moville,  over  the  ownership 
of  a  manuscript  of  one  of  the  books  of  Holy 
Scripture  which  the  former  had  copied.  These 
were  wild  times,  and  the  story  is  not  improbable. 


2"  A.  D.  673.        ^  Historians,  p.  xxxvi. 


14  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

It  was  customary  for  monks  and  even  for  women 
in  Ireland  to  take  part  in  war,  and  Columba 
seems,  even  after  he  became  Abbot  of  lona,  to 
have  been  more  or  less  directly  connected  with 
two  other  Irish  battles/''  After  the  slaughter  of 
Cooldrevny  he  is  said  to  have  consulted  his  "soul- 
friend"  or  confessor,  Molaise,  who  enjoined  exile 
from  Ireland  as  a  penance,  and  directed  the  peni- 
tent to  win  as  many  souls  among  the  heathen  Picts 
as  he  had  brought  to  death  upon  the  battlefield." 

From  these  legends  we  may  at  least  extract 
the  probability  that  Columba  had  got  into  some 
serious  trouble,  although,  as  we  have  seen,  he  did 
not  become  a  complete  exile  from  Ireland.  Adam- 
nan  represents  his  removal  as  voluntary  (pro 
Christo  peregrinari  volens)*^  but  on  the  other  hand 
he  tells  us  that  Columba  was  for  some  reason  ex- 
communicated by  a  synod  in  Ireland. 

Whatever  the  reason  or  reasons  may  have  been 
for  Columba's  adventure,  he  was  now  entering 
upon  the  crowning  work  of  his  life.  He  landed 
first,  according  to  the  pathetic  legend,  on  the  island 
of  Oronsay,  and  climbed  its  highest  point  to  see 
whether  Ireland  was  still  visible.  Finding  that 
he  could  still  discern  the  home  coast-line  in  the 
distance,  he  embarked  again  with  his  companions 


*^  Historians,  xlvii. 

•^Dowden,  Celtic  Church  in  Scotland,  p.  95. 

*^Life,  2nd  Preface. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  15 

in  their  frail  coracle,  made  of  wicker  work  and 
hide,  and  when  they  landed  at  lona,  no  trace  of 
Ireland  was  to  be  seen. 

The  small  island  of  lona,  three  miles  and  a 
quarter  long  and  a  mile  across  the  middle,  lies 
just  beyond  its  big  neighbour.  Mull,  from  which 
it  is  separated  by  a  sound  a  mile  broad/^  Bare 
in  aspect,  and  lacking  features  of  picturesqueness 
or  grandeur,  it  yet  attracts,  year  by  year,  thou- 
sands of  visitors  to  whom  its  sacred  memories  are 
living  and  real.  The  frail  buildings  of  clay  and 
wattles  built  by  the  hands  of  Columba  and  his 
monks  in  the  central  part  of  the  island  have  long 
since  disappeared,  and  the  structures  which  now 
remain  belong  to  later  times.  Yet  the  old  mill- 
stream  which  drove  the  Columban  mill  is  prob- 
ably the  same  as  the  burn  which  now  trickles  past 
the  north  side  of  the  mediaeval  Cathedral,  and 
to  the  north  of  that  again  it  is  believed  that  the 
original  monastery  stood."  A  great  glacial  boulder 
in  the  vicinity  may  have  been  the  stone  table  of 
the  refectory,  referred  to  in  old  documents,''  and 


"  The  most  recent  account  of  lona  is  to  be  found  in 
Trenholme's  Story  of  lona  (David  Douglas,  Edinburgh, 
1909). 

"Trenholme,  pp.  99  and  101:  It  should,  however,  be 
mentioned  that  as  the  result  of  recent  excavations  the 
architect  who  carried  through  the  restoration  of  the  Cathe- 
dral maintains  that  the  monastery  stood  on  the  Cathedral 
site. 

^'Ihid.,  p.  103. 


16  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

some  existing  remains  of  earthworks  may  have 
been  part  of  the  original  wall  (vallum)  of  the 
monastery."  The  famous  cemetery  to  the  south 
of  the  Cathedral,  Keilig  Odhrain  (the  burial  place 
of  Oran),  is  probably  the  place  where  Columba 
and  his  monks  were  buried,"  for  Oran  was  a  dis- 
ciple and  a  kinsman  of  the  saint/*  Two  miles 
distant,  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  island 
is  Port-na-churraich  (the  port  of  the  coracle), 
where  tradition  relates  that  the  missionaries  first 
landed.  The  name  of  the  island  was  not  origi- 
nally that  which  is  familiar  to  us.  Adamnan 
calls  it  loua  Insula,'*  which  points  to  a  name  like 
lou  (Yeo).  The  ordinary  name  in  Gaelic  at  the 
present  day  is  Y  (ee),  which  in  early  records 
appears  as  la,  Hya,  or  IIy.*°  The  erroneous  title 
lona  obviously  arose  through  a  misreading  of 
Adamnan's  loua  Insula,  fostered  by  his  dwelling 
upon  the  fact  that  lona  (the  Prophet  Jonah)  and 
Columba  both  bore  the  same  name,  meaning  a 
dove. 

lona  seems  to  have  occupied  a  position  on  the 
border  between  Pictland  and  the  southern  colony, 
very  suitable  for  the  twofold  direction  of  Colum- 
ba's  work,  and  we  are  told  that  the  island  was 
granted  to  Columba  first  by  his  kinsman  Conall, 
prince  of  Scottish  Dalriada,  and  subsequently  by 


^Ibid.,  p.  101.  '''lUd.,  p.  123  ^  Ibid.,  p.  37. 

"  Ibid.y  p.  1.       *•  Dowden,  Celtic  Church,  p.  126. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  17 

Brude,  king  of  the  Picts.  There  is  some  reason 
to  believe  that  the  island  was  occupied  by  a  Chris- 
tian community  before  Columba's  arrival. 

The  materials  for  a  detailed  history  of  Colum- 
ba's  labours  amongst  the  Scots  and  the  Picts  do 
not  exist,  but  we  can  plainly  make  out  a  career 
full  of  unremitting  toil  and  manifold  danger,  with 
interludes  of  study  and  devotion,  and  quiet  but 
strenuous  routine  in  lona  or  some  neighbouring 
island/^  Incessant  occupation  was  a  feature  of 
his  life.  "He  could  not  pass  the  space  of  even  one 
hour  without  being  engaged  in  prayer  (orationi) 
or  study  (lectioni)  or  else  some  work  (etiam  alicui 
operationi).  He  was  so  occupied,  day  and  night, 
with  unwearied  and  ceaseless  tasks  of  fastings 
and  watchings,  that  the  weight  of  his  particular 
work  seems  beyond  any  human  possibility."  " 

So  speaks  Adamnan  of  Columba's  monastic 
life  in  lona,  and  we  have  many  glimpses  besides 
of  his  doings  beyond  the  Island.  We  meet  him  in 
the  isle  of  Skye,  now  facing  a  wild  boar  in  a  thick 
wood  which  he  has  entered  in  order  to  pray,**  now 
preaching  through  an  interpreter  to  an  aged  Pict- 
ish  chief,  whom  he  baptizes  in  a  river.*^  Now  he 
is  in  danger  of  being  drowned  in  a  storm  at  sea, 
and  takes  his  manful  share  with  the  sailors  in  the 


"^^  Tiree,  twenty  miles  to  the  northwest,  was  a  dependency 
of  lona,  and  contains  many  ecclesiastical  remains.  Hinba 
(probably  Ei-lan-na-Naoimh )    is  also  often  mentioned. 

^'Life,  2nd  Preface.        ''Life,  II,  17.  "I,  27. 


18  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

task  of  baling  out  the  boat,"  and  again  he  is  with 
great  common  sense  persuading  a  married  woman 
in  one  of  the  islands  not  to  forsake  her  home  duties 
for  life  in  a  convent/*  Often  he  is  amongst  the 
Picts  across  the  dorsal  ridge  of  Britain,  at  Inver- 
ness, or  in  Lochaber,  where  he  enjoys  for  a  night 
the  hospitality  of  a  poor  man  and  blesses  his 
family  and  his  herds,*'  or  at  an  unnamed  fountain, 
bewitched  by  demons,  whose  waters  he  heals,"  or 
near  a  village  which  is  burnt  in  the  darkness  of 
the  night  by  a  malicious  enemy  (aemulo  perse- 
cut  or  e).^""  The  figure  that  we  discern  through  the 
supernatural  haze  is  of  one  who  is  very  strong  and 
brave,  very  human,  and  entirely  devoted  to  his 
high  calling. 

Columba's  great  achievement  was  in  connec- 
tion with  the  conversion  of  the  Picts/"  Soon  after 
his  settlement  in  lona,  the  intrepid  missionary, 
with  some  faithful  followers,  penetrated  into  the 
very  heart  of  the  hostile  country,  and  reached  the 
residence  of  King  Brude,  at  or  near  Inverness. 
Numbered  in  the  little  band  were  two  famous 
Irish  ecclesiastics,  Comgall  and  Kenneth,  both 
Columba's  friends  and  both  Picts  by  race.  It  is 
obvious  that  they  would  have  been  most  helpful 


«II,  11        *«II,  27.        *^II,  20.        ^«II,  10.        "I,  28. 

'"There  is,  however,  a  growing  opinion  that  Columba's 
influence  on  the  Picts  has  been  exaggerated,  and  that  most 
Pictish  mission  work  was  done  by  Irish  Pictish  saints. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  19 

in  such  a  mission  as  this,  both  by  their  influence 
among  their  fellow  Picts  and  by  their  capacity  as 
interpreters.  The  fact  that  Columba  enlisted 
them  in  his  enterprise  indicates  the  thoroughness 
of  his  methods,  to  which  rather  than  to  the  mir- 
aculous stories  which  Adamnan  tells,  his  success 
was  probably  due.  Brude  was  converted  and  bap- 
tized, and  his  people,  as  a  matter  of  course,  fol- 
lowed him. 

The  religion  which  was  thus  overthrown 
seems  to  have  consisted  mainly  of  the  worship  of 
demons,  who  dwelt  "in  the  heavens  or  the  earth, 
the  sea,  the  river,  the  mountain  or  the  valley."  '' 
The  Druids  may  perhaps  be  compared  to  the 
"medicine-men"  of  Africa."  They  were  Colum- 
ba's  great  opponents,  and  were  believed  to  be  in 
league  with  the  demons,  whose  power,  according 
to  Adamnan,  they  often  invoked  against  the  saint. 
They  held  sway  over  the  people  by  means  of  spells 
and  incantations,  through  which  they  exercised 
mysterious  powers.  Columba  is  represented,  not 
as  denying  those  powers,  but  as  doing  still  greater 
wonders  by  the  power  of  Christ. 

Both  in  Pictland  and  in  the  land  of  the  Scots 
many  Columban  monasteries  were  founded  as  a 
result  of  his  labours,  but  we  cannot  distinguish 
between  those  which  belong  to  Columba's  life-time 


"  Skene,  Celtic  Scotland,  II,  p.  109. 
'^  Dowden,  Celtic  Church,  p.  99. 


20  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  those  of  a  subsequent  date.  All  these,  to- 
gether with  the  Columban  foundations  in  Ireland 
formed  one  great  family,  with  lona  as  its  spiritual 
centre.  The  rest  of  Columba's  life  was  spent  in 
superintending  the  widely  scattered  branches  of 
the  brotherhood  in  both  countries. 

We  must  pass  over  the  full  and  touching  ac- 
count which  Adamnan  gives  of  the  saint's  last 
days,  and  his  death  at  lona  in  the  year  597.  The 
story  is  an  oft-told  one.  It  was  at  midnight,  be- 
tween Saturday  the  eighth  and  Sunday  the  ninth 
of  June,  that  this  great  servant  of  God  died  in 
the  church,  immediately  after  blessing  the  assem- 
bled monks.  Truly  he  had  fought  the  good  fight 
of  faith,  and  it  was  with  gladness  that  he  entered 
into  his  longed-for  rest. 

Columba's  character  contained  a  strange  blend 
of  opposing  qualities.  He  had  a  tender  heart,  for 
"both  man  and  bird  and  beast."  He  loved  the 
caresses  of  children,'^'  and  he  would  not  allow  the 
white  pack-horse  of  the  monastery  to  be  driven 
away  when  it  was  trying  to  shew  in  rude  fashion  its 
affection  for  him."  He  caused  an  exhausted  crane 
which  visited  the  island  to  be  fed  and  tended, 
and  was  once  horrified  to  find  that  he  had  blessed 
a  knife  which  was  meant  to  be  used  in  killing 
cattle."  Once  he  sent  food  to  an  evildoer  who 
had  been  detected  in  an  attempt  to  raid  the  island 


'Life,  I,  12.  "/6i(i.,  Ill,  24.  ''^II,  30. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  21 

where  the  young  seals  of  the  monastery  were 
brought  forth  and  nurtured.  On  the  other  hand 
we  have  those  "terrific  avengements  on  his  ene- 
mies" mentioned  by  Adamnan/*  the  battles  and 
bloodshed  with  which  he  is  credited,  pointing  to 
a  fierce  and  passionate  temperament,  which  was 
too  apt  to  boil  over  on  occasion.  He  once,  for  in- 
stance, prophesied  that  a  certain  rich  but  stingy 
man,  who  had  shewed  contempt  for  the  saint  and 
shewed  him  no  hospitality,  would  become  a  beggar 
along  with  his  son,"  while  others  who  offended  him 
in  other  ways  were  the  subjects  of  still  more  evil 
prophecies.  Whether  his  words  were  fulfilled,  as 
we  are  assured  that  they  were,  is  of  little  conse- 
quence. The  important  thing  is  that  Adamnan 
was  well  aware  that  Columba  was  not  always  a 
"dove-like"  person. 

Again  we  see  in  him  a  man  of  affairs,  taking  an 
important  share  in  the  political  affairs  of  his  day, 
an  intrepid  and  capable  missionary,  and  a  ruler 
of  the  Church,  exercising  a  wide  and  potent  spir- 
itual influence.  At  lona  we  behold  the  ascetic,  with 
his  bed  and  pillow  of  stone;"  the  diligent  scribe, 
now  attempting  with  indifferent  success  to  go  on 
with  his  writing  and  to  attend  to  monastery  affairs 
at  the  same  moment,"*  now  a  little  fidgety  about 
his  inkhorn,  lest  it  be  upset,  and  the  ink  be  spilt  ;** 


•^  II,  26.  "  II,  c.  21.  »« III,  c.  24. 

«*  II,  c.  30.  ~  I,  c.  19. 


22  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  best  of  all  the  friend  of  those  in  need,  to 
whom  men  came  from  all  quarters  with  distresses 
of  body  or  of  soul. 

The  hymns  which  are  with  high  probability 
attributed  to  Columba  shew  the  simplicity  and  the 
directness  of  his  Gospel/'  and  yet  he  appears  to 
us  with  something  of  the  aspect  of  a  wizard. 
Often  people  came  to  him  as  to  an  oracle  to  en- 
quire as  to  their  future  fortune,  and  the  replies 
which  they  received  appear  always  to  have  been 
definite  enough.  The  truth  seems  to  be  that  Co- 
lumba possessed  powers  which  are  usually  called 
uncanny/'  in  a  very  strong  degree,  and  that  this 
fact  lies  at  the  foundation  of  a  good  many  of 
Adamnan's  miraculous  stories. 

Of  his  personal  appearance  we  find  little  in- 
dication. He  was,  according  to  Adamnan,  angelic 
in  appearance,  with  a  holy  gladness  ever  shining 
on  his  face,  the  result  of  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
within  him."  We  may  assume  the  athletic  bear- 
ing of  an  island  soldier  of  Christ  (irisulanus 
miles),  and  we  may,  with  Dr.  Dowden,  ^^perhaps 
believe  that  Columba  was  tall  and  dignified  in 
bearing,  and  that  he  had  brilliant  eyes,  as  later 
authorities  aver."  **  His  powerful  voice  is  some- 
times mentioned  as  carrying  to  a  considerable  dis- 
tance during  the  services  in  church,  and  its  pos- 


**  See  Appendix  A.  Eymn^  attributed  to  Saint  Columba. 
•2  See  below  p.     ^  2nd  Preface.    "  Celtic  Church,  p.  107. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  23 

session  must  have  been  of  considerable  importance 
when  preaching  the  Gospel  in  the  open  air. 

It  is  not  so  easy  in  these  days  as  it  was 
twenty-five  years  ago,  to  brush  aside  the  super- 
natural. The  attitude  of  many  scientific  thinkers 
towards  the  borderland  of  human  happenings  has 
changed  in  a  remarkable  way,  and  the  old  mate- 
rialistic conception  of  the  universe  has  been 
greatly  spiritualized  of  recent  years.  We  are  not 
so  sure  as  we  used  to  be  that  we  are  very  much 
wiser  than  our  forefathers,  in  spite  of  all  the 
strange  and  wonderful  triumphs  of  modern  times. 
Yet  the  reader  of  Adamnan's  Life  of  Columba, 
however  sympathetic  he  may  be,  will  probably 
find  that  he  must  make  considerable  deductions 
in  deference  to  common  sense  and  the  probabilities 
of  things.  In  so  doing,  however,  he  will  be  no 
loser,  for  he  will  find  that  thereby  he  comes  nearer 
to  the  real  Columba  than  before. 

For  instance,  it  seems  clear  that  Columba 
possessed  in  a  strong  degree  that  Celtic  charac- 
teristic known  as  second  sight.  This  gift  is  still 
firmly  believed  in  amongst  the  highlands  and 
islands  of  Scotland,  and  its  chief  manifestation  is 
held  to  be  the  vision  of  a  sign  that  someone  is 
about  to  die.  Many  instances  are  recorded  of 
Columba's  power  in  this  respect,  from  which  we 
may  take  the  following.  One  day  the  saint  heard 
someone  shouting  across  the  sound  from  Mull,  as 
a  sign  that  he  wished  to  be  ferried  over  to  the 


24  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

island,  and  said,  "Much  to  be  pitied  is  that  man 
who  is  shouting,  who  is  coming  to  ns  to  seek  some 
medicines  for  his  body.  It  were  more  fitting  that 
he  should  do  real  penance  for  his  sins  to-day,  for 
at  the  end  of  this  week  he  shall  die."  On  his 
arrival  the  stranger  was  told  what  the  saint  had 
said,  but  he  made  light  of  it,  and  on  receiving 
what  he  had  asked  for,  quickly  departed.  Before 
the  end  of  that  week  he  died,  according  to  the 
true  prophecy  of  the  saint.** 

It  is  of  course  open  for  anyone  to  deny  the 
reality  of  second  sight,  but  on  the  other  hand  it 
is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  this  civiliza- 
tion of  ours  which  has  robbed  us  of  that  keen- 
ness of  sense  and  those  powers  of  observation  still 
possessed  by  savage  races,  may  have  ako  blunted 
and  atrophied  in  most  of  us  higher  powers  still, 
powers  which  belong  to  the  spiritual  side  of  human 
nature,  and  which,  in  a  highly  developed  spiritual 
character  like  that  of  Columba,  may  well  have 
had  extraordinary  manifestations. 

Allied  to  this  kind  of  second  sight  is  what  we 
may  call  telepathic  vision,  by  which  persons,  and 
events  that  are  happening,  are  discerned  at  a  con- 
siderable or  even  very  great  distance.  However 
this  strange  faculty  be  explained,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  it  exists,  and  is  from  time  to  time  exercised 
at  the  present  day.     Adamnan  records  many  cases 


^Life,  I,  c.  21. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  25 

of  this  telepathic  vision  in  Columba's  life,  and 
there  seems  no  valid  reason  for  rejecting  them. 
The  following  story,  for  instance,  is  remarkably 
like  a  strange  occurrence  which  came  under  the 
writer's  notice  a  few  years  ago. 

One  very  cold  wintry  day  the  saint  was  ob- 
served by  his  attendant  Diormit  to  be  in  great 
grief  and  shedding  tears.  He  explained  the  cause 
of  his  sadness  thus :  ^^With  good  reason,  my  little 
son,  am  I  sad  this  hour,  seeing  my  monks,  whom 
Laisran  is  troubling  to  build  a  large  house,  al- 
though they  are  now  wearied  with  severe  labour. 
This  much  displeases  me."  Laisran,  Columba's 
cousin,  and  afterwards  Abbot  of  lona,  was  then 
at  Derry,  probably  in  charge  of  the  monastery 
there.  The  story  goes  on  that  at  that  moment  he 
felt  a  sudden  compulsion,  and  a  feeling  as  if  a 
fire  burned  within  him,  so  that  he  stopped  the 
monks'  labour  and  caused  refreshments  to  be  pre- 
pared for  them,  ordering  them  to  rest  not  only 
that  day,  but  also  whenever  the  weather  was  se- 
vere. All  this  being  perceived  by  Columba  at 
lona,  he  dried  his  tears  and  rejoiced,  and  blessed 
Laisran  for  his  kindness  to  the  monks.** 

Columba's  own  explanation  of  his  conscious 
experience  during  these  visions  is  of  great  psy- 
chological interest.  We  are  told  that  on  one  occa- 
sion Lugbe  Mocublai,  a  monk  to  whom  he  had 


'Life,  I,  c.  23. 


26  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

disclosed  such  a  vision,  had  the  boldness  to  ask 
the  saint  how  these  revelations  were  made  to  him, 
"whether  through  sight,  or  by  hearing,  or  by  other 
means  unknown  to  men."  Columba,  first  binding 
Lugbe  to  secrecy  during  his  lifetime  (cundis 
diebus  vitae  meae),  gave  this  reply:  "There  are 
some,  though  very  few,  on  whom  divine  grace 
has  conferred  this  gift,  that  they  behold,  clearly 
and  most  plainly,  actually  the  whole  orb  of  the 
whole  earth,  with  the  circle  of  sea  and  sky,  at 
one  and  the  same  moment,  as  if  under  a  single 
ray  of  the  sun,  through  the  wondrous  enlargement 
of  the  mind's  capacity''"  (mirabiliter  laxato  men- 
tis sinu). 

This  is  an  exceptionally  clear  statement  of  that 
cosmic  consciousness  which  we  meet  in  the  lives 
and  writings  of  great  poets  and  saints.  Here  is 
an  extract  from  the  life  of  Tennyson,  which  may 
well  stand  beside  Columba's  statement  to  Lugbe  :** 
"A  kind  of  waking  trance  I  have  frequently  had, 
quite  up  from  boyhood,  when  I  have  been  all 
alone.  This  has  generally  come  upon  me  through 
repeating  my  own  name  two  or  three  times  to 
myself  silently,  till  all  at  once,  out  of  the  intensity 
of  the  consciousness  of  individuality,  the  individ- 
uality itself  seemed  to  dissolve  and  fade  away 
into  boundless  being,    and   this   not   a   confused 


"Life,  I,  Chap.  XXXV. 

"Life  of  Tennyson,  Vol.  I,  p.  320. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  27 

state,  but  the  clearest  of  the  clearest,  the  surest 
of  the  surest,  the  weirdest  of  the  weirdest,  utterly 
beyond  words,  where  death  was  an  almost  laugh- 
able impossibility,  the  loss  of  personality  (if  so 
it  were)  seeming  no  extinction,  but  the  only  true 
life.''  " 

With  Tennyson's  experience  we  may  compare 
that  of  St.  Augustine  in  contemplation  with  his 
mother.  ^^We  did  pass  step  by  step  through  all 
corporeal  things,  even  heaven  itself.  Yea  we 
soared  higher  still  by  inward  musing.  .  .  .  And 
we  came  to  our  own  minds  and  passed  beyond 
them  that  we  might  touch  that  region  of  unfailing 
richness.  .  .  .  We  touched  it  for  a  moment  .  .  . 
and  we  sighed  and  left  there  bound  the  first  fruits 
of  the  Spirit,  and  so  returned  to  the  sound  of  our 
own  mouth."  And  Dante,  in  the  crowning  vision 
of  the  Light  Eternal  in  the  Paradise,'''  touches  the 
same  thought  of  cosmic  consciousness. 

"In  its  depth  I  saw  there  enters, 
Bound  with  love  in  one  complete  whole, 
That  which  is  scattered  through  the  universe. 
Substance  and  accidents  and  their  fashion. 
As  if  fused  together  in  such  a  way 
That  that  which  I  tell  is  one  single  flash  of  light." 

To  return  to  another  class  of  Adamnan's 
stories,    those    in    which    are    related    wonderful 


*•  Compare  "The  Ancient  Sage,"  by  the  same  poet : 
"When  thou  sendest  thy  free  soul  through  heaven, 
Nor  understandest  bound  nor  boundlessness." 
''Paradiso,  XXXIII,  85. 


28  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

cures  performed  by  the  saint,  there  is  some  ground 
for  thinking  that  Columba  had  medical  skill  and 
knowledge  which  were  remarkable  for  his  time, 
the  successful  exercise  of  which  gave  rise  to  tales 
which  did  not  lose  in  the  telling,  as  time  went  on. 
Without  seeking  to  turn  Columba  into  a  medical 
missionary,  we  may  well  suppose  that  then,  as 
now,  some  knowledge  of  medicine  and  surgery 
would  have  been  most  helpful  in  forwarding  the 
sacred  cause  to  which  his  life  was  devoted, 
amongst  a  wild  and  ignorant  people,  whose  only 
help  in  time  of  sickness  was  such  as  the  spells  and 
incantations  of  the  Druids  afforded.  We  are  not 
without  evidence  that  this  was  the  case,  for  in 
the  passage  quoted  above  on  page  23  we  have  the 
significant  information  that  a  man  came  to  lona 
to  ask  from  Columba  medicine  for  his  body 
(aliqua  ad  carnalia  medicamenta  petiturus  per- 
tinentia)  and  that  he  was  medically  treated  as  a 
matter  of  course  (acceptis  quae  poposcerat).  This 
could  hardly  have  been  an  isolated  instance,  and  it 
points  both  to  Columba's  medical  skill,  and  to  the 
extent  of  his  medical  reputation.  To  this  we  may 
add  an  account  of  a  cure  which  has  no  very 
miraculous  aspect.  One  day  a  young  man  named 
Lugne  came  to  the  saint  and  complained  of  a 
bleeding  from  the  nose  from  which  he  had  suffered 
frequently  for  several  months.  When  he  came 
near,  Columba  squeezed  (constringens)  both  his 
nostrils  with  two  fingers  of  his  right  hand,  and 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  29 

blessed  him.  The  happy  result,  that  the  nose  of 
the  young  man  never  bled  again,  is  credited  by 
Adamnan  to  the  blessing  (ex  qua  hora  benedic- 
tionis),  but  we  may  be  pardoned  for  thinking  that 
something  was  due  to  the  squeeze,  and  the  physical 
shock  produced  thereby/' 

Once  again,  the  well-known  story"  of  how  an 
inquisitive  monk  {callidus  explorator)  once  spied 
upon  the  saint  in  defiance  of  his  prohibition,  and 
saw  him  surrounded  by  a  multitude  of  angels, 
suggests  another  influence  than  exaggeration  upon 
the  miraculous  fame  of  Columba,  viz.,  the  tend- 
ency to  father  local  traditions  upon  a  famous 
person.  The  spot  where  Columba  was  seen  stand- 
ing is  called  by  Adamnan  the  Hill  of  the  Angels 
(Cnoc  Angel)  and  this  name  is  still  locally  pre- 
served, but  that  by  which  it  is  familiarly  known 
to  this  day  is  Sithean  Mor,  the  great  fairy  hill. 
This  name  comes  down  from  a  period  anterior  to 
the  appearance  of  Christianity  in  lona,  and  tells 
its  own  story.  There  were  stories  of  fairies  con- 
nected with  this  place  long  before  Columba's  day, 
and  what  is  more  likely  than  that  one  of  these 
should  have  been  transferred,  by  a  process  which 
we  see  illustrated  any  day  in  our  newspapers,  to 
the  name  of  the  illustrious  saint,  with  angels  to 
take  the  place  of  fairies. 

To  which  we  may  add,  ere  we  leave  this  point. 


'"■  Life,  II,  Chap.  XVII.        "  Life,  III,  Chap.  XVII. 


30  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

that  the  best  attested  of  Adamnan's  miracles  are 
the  least  marvellous,  and  that  some  of  the  events 
recorded  may  with  little  difficulty  be  explained  in 
a  natural  way.  Thus  we  can  well  believe  that  a 
wild  boar  which  was  being  hunted  in  Skye  fell 
down  dead  at  Columba's  feet,  if  we  make  the 
simple  assumption  that  it  had  already  been  mor- 
tally wounded,  and  the  sensational  feat  performed 
on  Loch  Ness  of  sailing  his  boat  in  the  teeth  of  a 
gale  raised  by  Broichan  the  Druid  may  resolve  it- 
self into  an  instance  of  the  saint's  skilful  naviga- 
tion, by  which  he  sailed  "very  close  to  the  wind."  " 
It  now  remains  to  treat  very  briefly  of  the  spec- 
cial  features  of  the  Church  system  of  Columba's 
day.  In  the  first  place  it  was  monastic  in  character. 
St.  Patrick  had  brought  the  monastic  ideal  to 
Ireland  from  Gaul,  and  it  was  doubtless  the  most 
stable  and  efficient  means  then  possible  of  ex- 
tending Christianity  among  the  warring  tribes  and 
petty  kingdoms  of  Ireland  and  Caledonia.  Hence 
the  position  of  the  Columban  Bishop  was  a  pe- 
culiar one.  As  a  rule  the  head  of  each  monastery 
was  a  connection  of  the  chief  of  the  tribe  which 
sheltered  it,  and  Columba's  example  in  remain- 
ing a  presbyter  was  followed  by  most  abbots. 
The  bishops  were,  therefore,  often  monks  subject 
to  the  abbot's  authority,  without  anything  in  the 
nature  of  Church  jurisdiction.     Yet  it  is  clear 


"  Dowden,  Celtic  ChAirch,  p.  101. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  31 

from  the  Life  that  a  Bishop  had  always  special 
honour  and  dignity  accorded  to  him,  and  that 
none  but  he  might  perform  episcopal  acts  like 
ordination  and  consecration.  The  Columban 
Church  was  undeniably  ^^episcopal/'  presenting  a 
phase  of  episcopacy  strange  and  anomalous,  but 
not  unparalleled  in  history. 

The  monastic  life  was,  in  all  probability,  on 
the  same  lines  as  elsewhere  in  Western  Christen- 
dom, with  its  daily  round  of  prayer  and  praise, 
its  fasts  and  its  festivals,'*  its  toils  and  its  relaxa- 
tions. We  may  doubt  whether  Columba  promul- 
gated a  monastic  rule,  but  it  is  very  likely  that 
the  brethren  were  bound  to  obedience,  chastity, 
and  poverty.  The  Holy  Eucharist  seems  to  have 
been  celebrated  on  Sundays  and  festivals  and  on 
special  occasions,  and  some  if  not  all  of  the  canon- 
ical hours  were  observed.  The  season  of  Lent 
was  kept,  and  Wednesdays  and  Fridays  were 
usually  observed  as  fasts.  Two  peculiarities 
caused  much  strife  and  trouble  in  later  days:  the 
Irish  tonsure  (which,  according  to  Dr.  Dowden, 
was  crescent  shaped,  with  an  unshorn  fringe  in 
front,  leaving  also  all  the  hair  behind  a  line  drawn 
from  ear  to  ear),  and  the  Irish  method  of  calcu- 
lating Easter  according  to  an  obsolete  cycle.  The 
monastery  was  enclosed  by  a  rampart  {vallum), 
inside  which  were  the  abbot's  little  hut  {tuguri- 


^*  Dowden,  Celtic  Church,  Ch.  VII. 


32  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

olum)  situated  on  an  eminence  by  itself,  and  the 
dwellings  of  the  riaonks,  as  well  as  the  church, 
refectory,  and  guest-chambers.  Outside  were  the 
mill  and  the  kiln,  the  cowshed,  the  stable,  and  the 
barn. 

There  is  no  indication  of  the  number  of  monks 
added  in  Columba's  time  to  his  original  twelve 
companions,  beyond  the  fact  that  the  names  of 
something  less  than  thirty  are  mentioned  by 
Adamnan  in  different  connections.  Among  these 
are  two  Saxons  who,  whether  converted  by  Co- 
lumba  or  not,  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  first-fruits 
of  the  English  nation  offered  to  God."  We  often 
hear  of  Diormit,  the  saint's  personal  attendant, 
and  of  Baithene,  his  cousin  and  successor.  The 
baker  was  one  of  the  above-mentioned  Saxons,  the 
gardener  was  called  Laisrean,  and  the  farm  over- 
seer Baithen.  Lugaid  was  the  abbot's  messen- 
ger, and  Libran  of  the  rush-ground  probably  had 
to  provide  the  ancient  substitute  for  carpets.  From 
these  indications  we  may  gather  that  there  was  a 
careful  and  systematic  apportionment  of  duties, 
according  to  each  man's  capacity.  We  meet  the 
brethren  coming  home  tired  from  the  harvest 
field,  we  see  them  gathering  wood  for  building 
purposes,  and  (in  Derry)  building  a  house. 
Often  they  are  fishing  with  the  net,  often  sailing 
the   day's   journey   to   Ireland.     At   other   times 


"  Grub,  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Scotland,  I,  60. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  33 

they  are  reading  or  writing  or  engaged  in  devo- 
tion. In  lona  it  is  evident  that  there  was  no 
room  for  sluggards. 

Outwardly  the  circumstances  of  life  in  lona 
may  have  seemed  humble  enough,  but  its  inner 
power  reached  far  and  wide.  Well  might  Co- 
lumba,  as  he  looked  around  him,  have  burst  into 
his  famous  prophecy,  so  strikingly  fulfilled  in  the 
history  of  lona:  ^^To  this  place,  cramped  though 
it  be  and  mean,  not  only  kings  of  the  Scots  with 
their  peoples,  but  also  rulers  of  barbarous  and 
foreign  nations  with  their  subjects  shall  bring 
great  and  uncommon  honour;  by  the  saints  also 
of  other  Churches  unusual  reverence  shall  be 
paid."  '" 


^»  Life,  III,  24. 


II.-THE  TRANSITION  FROM  CELTIC 
TO  ROMAN  INFLUENCE 

Saint  Margaret 

Queen  of  Scotland  from   1068  to   1093  A.D. 

A  PERIOD  of  more  than  four  and  a  half  cen- 
turies intervenes  between  the  death  of  Columba 
and  the  arrival  in  Scotland  of  the  Saxon  princess 
Margaret,  with  whose  coming  a  new  era  opens  in 
the  life  of  the  Scottish  Church  and  nation.  The 
history  of  this  long  stretch  of  time  is  but  dimly 
illuminated  for  us.  We  can  discern  figures  and 
developments  here  and  there,  and  it  is  possible  to 
piece  together  the  fragmentary  facts  which  have 
escaped  oblivion,  into  the  outline  of  a  story.  But 
no  real  and  living  picture  is  available  until  we 
come  to  the  biographical  sketch  of  the  life  of  St. 
Margaret,  which,  in  the  words  of  Bishop  A.  P. 
Forbes,  ^^supplies  us  with  the  first  really  authentic 
history  of  Scotland  after  the  notices  in  Adamnan 
and  Baeda,  the  Pictish  Chronicle  and  the  Book 
of  Deer."  ' 

Great  changes  had  assuredly  taken  place  both 
in  the  political  and  in  the  ecclesiastical  features 

^  Kalendars  of  Scottish  SaintSf  p.  388. 


ST.  MARGARET  AND  MALCOLM  CANMORE 
Picture  by  the  late  Sir  Noel  Paton 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  35 

of  Scotland,  by  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest. 
The  petty  kingdoms  of  Columba's  day  had  been 
gradually  welded  into  something  like  a  nation 
under  the  rule  of  one  sovereign.  In  the  middle 
of  the  ninth  century,  Kenneth  Macalpine  of  Kin- 
tyre,  a  Scot  on  his  father's  side,  and  on  his  moth- 
er's apparently  a  Pict,  had  succeeded  in  uniting 
Picts  and  Scots  into  one  kingdom.  His  succes- 
sors in  turn  enlarged  the  borders  of  this  Picto- 
Scottish  dominion  in  the  course  of  long  wars  with 
Scandinavian  settlers  in  the  north  and  west,  and 
with  Britons  and  English  on  the  south.  The 
cession  of  English  Lothian,  and  a  matrimonial 
alliance  with  the  ruler  of  Strathclyde  eventually 
completed  the  unifying  process,  and  before  the 
time  that  Malcolm  Canmore,  the  son  of  the  mur- 
dered Duncan,  ascended  his  throne,  the  kingdom 
of  Scotland,  loosely  cemented  as  it  necessarily  was, 
may  be  described  as  at  least  a  nominally  accom- 
plished fact. 

The  ecclesiastical  changes  had  been  equally 
striking.  The  glory  of  lona  had  risen  to  its  su- 
preme splendour,  and  then  all  but  passed  away. 
For  more  than  two  centuries  Columba's  settle- 
ment at  Hy  had  possessed  an  unique  position  and 
influence  in  the  Celtic  Church.  The  great  family 
(muintir)  of  Columban  communities  in  Scotland 
and  Ireland  looked  up  to  the  abbot  of  lona  as  its 
spiritual  head,  for  he  was  the  heir  (co-arh)  of 
Columkille.     Irish  kings  lived   and  died  in  the 


38  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

island  as  simple  monks,  and  when  a  second  lona 
was  founded  at  the  island  of  Lindisf arne,  off  the 
coast  of  Northumbrian  by  St.  Aidan  and  other 
devoted  missionaries,  a  great  spiritual  harvest  was 
reaped  in  England.  Then  came  days  of  waning 
influence  and  of  disaster.  The  Iforthumbrian 
mission  ceased  after  the  triumph  of  Roman  prin- 
ciples at  the  Synod  of  Whitby  (664),  the  monas- 
tery in  lona  was  ravaged  again  and  again  by  Dan- 
ish pirates,  the  Columban  monks  were  banished 
from  Pictland  as  a  result  of  the  Easter  contro- 
versy, the  chief  seat  of  the  Columban  order  was 
transferred  to  Kells  in  Ireland  for  security,  and 
when  Kenneth  Macalpine  united  the  Picts  and 
the  Scots,  he  transferred  the  chief  seat  of  eccle- 
siastical influence  in  Scotland  to  Dunkeld. 

Yet  the  fame  and  sanctity  of  lona  were  remem- 
bered, although  its  authority  had  so  greatly  waned. 
The  monks  clung  to  the  island  in  spite  of  ravage 
and  martyrdom,  and  lona  became  the  Westminster 
Abbey  of  Scotland  for  the  next  two  centuries. 
There,  according  to  the  ancient  chronicles,  all  the 
kings  of  Scotland  except  four,  from  Kenneth 
Macalpine  until  the  time  of  Malcolm  Canmore, 
were  buried.  The  little  cemetery  called  Reilig 
Odhrain  is  thus  one  of  the  most  interesting  his- 
torical spots  in  Scotland.  There  the  dust  of 
Shakespeare's  Duncan  mingles  with  that  of  his 
murderer  Macbeth,  and  the  indistinguishable  re- 
mains of  many  of  the  makers  of   Scotland  lie 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  37 

together  without  scroll  or  monument,  under  the 
canopy  of  the  open  sky,  with  the  ceaseless  sound 
of  the  western  waves  for  their  requiem/ 

We  are  groping  in  the  dark  when  we  try  to 
trace  the  history  of  the  Church  in  Scotland  gen- 
erally during  this  period.  A  scanty  outline  is  all 
that  we  can  discern.  Bishops  again  appear  in 
their  regular  position  as  the  rulers  of  the  Church. 
The  primacy  is  transferred  from  Dunkeld,  first 
perhaps  to  Abernethy,  and  finally  to  St.  Andrews. 
The  order  of  the  Culdees,  about  which  so  much 
has  been  written,  appears  and  rises  to  influence. 
The  possessions  of  the  Church  become  considerable 
enough  to  excite  the  cupidity  of  laymen,  who 
usurp  not  only  property  but  also  titles  and  dig- 
nities belonging  to  the  spiritual  order.'  With  the 
loss  of  the  old  fervour  and  the  noble  ideals  in- 
spired by  Columba,  there  gradually  sets  in  a  gen- 
eral decay  of  religion.  Laxity  displaces  ascetic 
discipline  as  love  grows  cold,  and  irregularities  of 
different  kinds  abound.  Had  we  more  light,  this 
picture  of  Celtic  Christianity  in  its  final  stage 
might  be  a  less  depressing  one.*  But  such  as  it 
is,  it  reveals  the  Scottish  Church  at  a  very  low 


'  Trenholme,  Story  of  lona,  p.  125. 

*  This  sacrilege  was,  therefore,  not  a  mere  growth  of  the 
later  age,  when  Stuarts  were  kings. 

*  Margaret's  biographer,  it  should  be  remembered,  writes 
with  the  bias  of  an  inveterate  Angliciser,  who  could  see 
nothing  good  in  the  Celtic  system. 


38  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

ebb,  awaiting  a  rescuer  to  save  it  from  further 
degeneration. 

The  saviour  whom  God,  in  His  providence, 
raised  up  at  this  critical  period  was  a  woman,  of 
alien  birth  and  training,  the  descendant  of  a  long 
line  of  Saxon  kings,  and  the  flower  of  English 
womanhood.  Cast  upon  the  shores  of  Scotland 
like  wreckage  from  the  storm  of  the  Conquest, 
she  found  in  her  new  home  a  great  task  awaiting 
her,  from  which  it  was  but  natural  that  she  should 
at  first  shrink.  The  seclusion  and  safety  of  the 
convent  seemed  more  attractive  to  the  exiled  and 
disinherited  princess,  than  the  dubious  splendour 
of  a  seat  upon  the  throne  of  the  fierce  warrior, 
Malcolm  of  the  Big  Head,  among  a  people  who 
must  have  seemed  to  her  so  rude  and  barbarous. 
But  when  at  last  she  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  her 
ardent  suitor,  and  became  the  Queen  of  Scotland, 
it  was,  as  the  account  of  her  life  shews,  in  the 
most  lofty  spirit  of  devotion  to  duty,  and  with 
the  most  whole-hearted  intention  of  working  for 
the  highest  welfare  of  her  husband  and  of  her 
adopted  country. 

Not  that  one  frail  woman,  however  holy  and 
devoted,  could  alone  have  so  profoundly  affected 
the  life  of  Scotland  as  Margaret  is  said  to  have 
done.  She  came  on  the  crest  of  a  wave  of  new 
influence,  which  was  of  the  most  powerful  char- 
acter, and  which  ultimately  changed  the  whole  face 
of  Scotland.     In  her  temperament  and  aims  were 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  39 

epitomized  the  characteristics  of  the  new  Saxon 
movement  in  Scotland,  which  the  Norman  Con- 
quest shaped  into  being.  Until  that  event  the 
Celtic  element  in  Scotland  reigned  supreme,  while 
English  Lothian,  between  the  Forth  and  the 
Tweed,  had  to  be  content  with  a  slowly  growing 
influence.  But  now  settlers  from  England,  great 
and  small,  came  pouring  over  the  border  to  escape 
the  dominion  of  the  Conqueror,  and  bringing  with 
them  other  customs  and  ideals  than  those  which 
hitherto  had  held  sway  in  Scotland.  During  the 
joint  reign  of  Malcolm  and  Margaret  we  see  a  de- 
termined struggle  for  supremacy  being  waged  be- 
tween the  representatives  of  Saxon  and  of  Celtic 
traditions,  a  struggle  which  was  not  decisively  set- 
tled during  their  lifetime,  as  the  Celtic  reaction 
which  took  place  after  Malcolm's  death  clearly 
shews. 

The  Life  of  St.  Margaret  has  been  described 
above  as  a  biographical  sketch,  and  this  it  is  rather 
than  a  biography  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word. 
The  author  could  not  have  missed  feeling  that  his 
task  had  its  delicate  features.  Writing  as  he  did 
at  Durham,  he  was  aware  that  the  local  memories 
of  Malcolm  were  mainly  of  a  gruesome  order.' 
Yet  he  wrote  at  the  command  of  an  English  queen 
who  would  not  relish  such  things  being  told  of  her 
father.     Hence  he  preferred  not  to  paint  in  the 


'  See  Symeon  of  Durham's  History, 


40  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

historical  and  political  background  of  his  picture. 
Not  a  single  date  does  he  give  from  beginning  to 
end,  and  much  information  that  would  have  been 
of  great  value  is  carefully  withheld.  The  writer 
has  been  often  accused  of  exaggerating  the  vir- 
tues of  the  saintly  queen,  but  his  fault  seems  one 
of  omission  rather  than  exaggeration.  It  was 
perhaps  natural  enough  under  the  circumstances 
that  he  should  fail  to  suggest  the  existence  in 
Margaret's  character  of  any  of  those  flaws  to  which 
every  son  and  every  daughter  of  man  is  subject. 
These,  however,  we  can  each  easily  supply  accord- 
ing to  our  tastes  and  powers  of  imagination.  And 
we  need  not  complain  overmuch  if  a  dim,  religious 
light  pervades  this  narrative,  which,  as  far  as  it 
goes,  bears  the  stamp  of  truth  and  simplicity. 

It  is  not  quite  certain  who  the  author  was. 
Many  authorities  accept  the  testimony  of  John 
of  Fordun  and  others  to  the  effect  that  he  was 
Turgot,  at  one  time  Prior  of  Durham,  and  sub- 
sequently Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  (1109-1115), 
but  the  evidence  yielded  by  the  manuscript  copies 
of  the  Life  is  somewhat  perplexing.*  At  any  rate 
he  was  someone  who  possessed  excellent  first-hand 
information,  and  who  wrote  his  narrative  within 
fourteen  years  of  Margaret's  death. 

The  author  describes  himself  as  the  servant 


•See  Appendix  B.     Date  and  Authorship   of  St.   Mar- 
garefa  Life. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  41 

of  the  servants  of  St.  Outhbert,  and  claims  to  have 
had  an  intimate  knowledge  of  Margaret's  inner 
life  which  no  one  but  her  confessor  was  likely  to 
have  obtained.  ^^You  tell  me/'  he  says  in  the 
dedication  to  Queen  Matilda,  "that  I  am  worthy 
of  special  trust  in  this  task,  for  you  have  heard 
that  I,  by  reason  of  great  intimacy  (familiaritas) 
with  her,  was  possessed  of  a  knowledge  of  her 
secrets  to  a  considerable  extent  (magna  ex  parte)  J' 
Elsewhere  he  speaks  of  his  knowledge  of  her  con- 
science, as  revealed  to  him  by  herself,^  and  tells 
how,  at  the  premonition  of  her  approaching  death 
she  told  him  in  secret  the  history  of  her  whole 
life,  shedding  floods  of  tears  as  she  spoke.'  In 
addition  to  his  other  embarrassments,  therefore, 
our  author  had  in  all  probability  to  observe  the 
reticence  imposed  by  the  seal  of  confession  with 
respect  to  matters  about  which  he  might  otherwise 
have  written  with  comparative  freedom. 

For  the  rest  we  learn  that  he  was  an  old  man 
at  the  time  of  writing,'  that  for  a  considerable 
time  he  had  been,  by  Margaret's  orders,  the  cus- 
todian of  the  sacred  vessels  of  the  altar  in  the 
royal  church  at  Dunfermline,"  and  that  he  often 
had  to  weary  himself  in  book-hunting  expeditions, 
to  gratify  the  keen  and  pious  desire  of  his  beloved 
mistress,  to  possess  copies  of  the  sacred  volumes." 

'  Ch.  Ill,  17.        « Ch.  IV,  25. 

"  Procul  sit  a  mea  canitie.    Prologue  2. 

"  Ch.  I,  7.  "  Ch.II,  10. 


42  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

He  deplores  his  lack  of  ability  for  the  task  of  writ- 
ing Margaret's  life,  but  his  Latin  abounds  with 
ambitious  little  graces  and  conceits  which  shew 
that  this  consideration  did  not  weigh  heavily  on 
his  mind. 

Whoever  the  author  was,  he  possessed  one  ex- 
cellent quality,  a  sincere  love  of  truth.  Unlike 
the  writer  of  the  Brevis  Chronica^''  some  five  hun- 
dred years  later,  who  declares  that  Margaret 
^^kythit  mony  miraclis,"  this  contemporary  wit- 
ness bluntly  tells  us  there  were  none.  It  is  quite 
refreshing  to  read  such  sentiments  as  these,  from 
an  ecclesiastical  biographer  of  the  beginning  of 
the  twelfth  century:  "Let  others  wonder  at  the 
signs  of  miracles  in  other  persons,  I  in  Margaret 
much  rather  admire  the  works  of  mercy,  for  signs 
are  common  to  the  good  and  the  bad,  but  works  of 
true  piety  and  charity  belong  only  to  the  good. 
The  former  sometimes  disclose  holiness,  the  latter 
also  make  it.  Let  us  admire,  I  say — and  more 
worthily — the  deeds  in  Margaret  which  made  her 
a  saint,  rather  than  the  signs,  if  she  had  performed 
any,''  which  would  only  shew  a  saint  to  men.  We 
may  more  worthily  wonder  at  her,  in  whom,  by 
her  zeal  for  justice,  piety,  mercy,  and  love,  we  con- 


"  Historians  of  Scotland,  Vol.  IX,  p.  322. 

"  Ch.  Ill,  24.  Signa,  si  aliqua  fedsset.  Mr.  Forbes 
Leith's  rendering,  "which,  had  we  any  record  of  them,"  is 
slightly  misleading.     {Life  of  St.  Margaret,  p.  66.) 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  43 

template  the  deeds  of  the  ancient  fathers  rather 
than  their  signs." 

One  event,  indeed,  he  relates  which  he  thinks 
might  be  described  as  relevant  in  the  way  of  proof 
of  her  holy  life.  A  book  of  the  Gospels  which  she 
valued  more  highly  than  the  other  books  which  she 
used  to  read,  was  one  day  dropped  into  a  river 
through  carelessness  by  someone  while  he  was 
crossing  a  ford.  It  was  a  beautiful  book,  adorned 
with  gems  and  gold,  and  decorated  with  gilded 
pictures  of  the  four  Evangelists,  every  capital  let- 
ter being  brilliant  with  gold.  The  bearer  proceeded 
on  his  way,  and  only  discovered  his  loss  when  he 
wished  to  produce  the  book.  Search  was  made 
for  a  long  time  without  success,  but  at  last  it  was 
found  lying  open  at  the  bottom  of  the  river,  its 
leaves  being  stirred  all  the  time  by  the  rush  of  the 
w^ater,  and  the  little  bits  of  silk  that  protected  the 
gilded  letters  having  been  washed  away.  Yet  it 
was  rescued  from  its  watery  bed  unharmed,  its 
leaves  white  as  before,  and  the  form  of  its  letters 
unaltered,  except  in  a  part  of  the  last  leaves,  where 
hardly  any  sign  of  wet  could  be  seen.** 

The  real  interest  of  this  story  lies  in  the  recent 
discovery  of  a  book  which  is  believed,  with  good 
reason,  to  be  the  very  one  referred  to.  In  July, 
1887,  the  authorities  of  the  Bodleian  Library  of 
Oxford  purchased  for  £6  a  small  manuscript  book 


^*  Ch.  Ill,  25. 


44  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

containing  the  liturgical  Gospels,  which  on  exam- 
ination was  found  to  belong  to  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, and  to  contain  upon  the  fly-leaf  a  poem  in 
Latin  hexameters,  describing  how  this  very  vol- 
ume had  passed  through  the  same  experience  as 
that  above  related.  The  book  answers  to  the  de- 
scription in  the  Life,  and  the  poem  ends  with  the 
words,  "May  the  King  and  the  pious  Queen  be 
saved  for  ever,  whose  book  was  but  now  saved  from 
the  waves."  Thus  there  is  no  reasonable  doubt 
that  St.  Margaret's  Gospel  Book  is  now  one  of 
the  treasures  of  the  great  Oxford  library.'' 

Margaret  was  the  daughter  of  the  English 
^theling  Edward,  whose  brave  and  vigourous 
father,  Edmund  Ironside,  had  for  a  short  time 
succeeded  in  stemming  the  tide  of  Danish  aggres- 
sion, and  in  dividing  the  kingship  of  England 
with  Canute.  When  the  death  of  Ironside  re- 
moved Canute's  rival  after  a  reign  of  a  few  months, 
the  Danish  monarch  sent  his  two  sons,  the  little 
^thelings  Edward  and  Edmund  abroad,  whether, 
as  Symeon  of  Durham  asserts,"  that  they  might 
be  put  to  death  outside  of  England,  or,  as  is  prob- 
able, for  more  humane  reasons.  The  young  exiles 
spent  some  time  in  Sweden,  and  afterwards  were 
sent  on  to  be  cared  for  by  St.  Stephen,  King  of 
Hungary.     There  they  grew  up,  and  in  course  of 


"  Dowden,  Celtic  Church  in  Scotland,  p.  331. 
^*  Historia  Regum,  §  130. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  45 

time  Edmund  died,  while  Edward  married  a  noble 
ladj  named  Agatha,  as  to  whose  antecedents  there 
is  some  mystery.  Had  she  been,  as  Symeon  de- 
clares, the  daughter  of  Henry,  the  German  Em- 
peror, we  should  have  expected  to  find  some  refer- 
ence to  the  fact  in  Margaret's  Life. 

The  children  of  this  marriage,  Margaret, 
Christina,  and  Edgar  the  ^theling,  thus  spent 
their  young  days  at  the  court  of  Hungary,  but 
after  Edward  the  Confessor,  the  half-brother  of 
Edmund  Ironside,  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  his 
fathers,  the  exiled  family  returned  to  England. 
At  Edward's  court  another  exile  had  found  refuge, 
the  Scottish  prince  Malcolm,  who  fled  to  England 
after  his  father's  death.  Thus  it  seems  extremely 
probable  that  the  future  king  and  queen  of  Scot- 
land knew  one  another  long  before  their  lives  were 
united.  Freeman  even  suggests  that  they  may 
have  been  betrothed  in  the  Confessor's  time,"  but 
the  evidence  which  he  produces  is  hardly  convinc- 
ing, and  Malcolm's  first  marriage  with  Ingibiorg 
stands  somewhat  in  the  way  of  such  a  betrothal. 

Malcolm  in  due  course  left  England  to  fight 
for  the  Scottish  crown,  and  proved  his  valour  by 
overthrowing  and  slaying  Macbeth  in  1057  at 
Lumphanan,  in  the  Deeside  district  of  Aberdeen- 
shire.    His  first  marriage,  which  took  place  a  few 


^"^  Norman  Conquest,  IV,  p.  508. 


46  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

years"  after  this  event,  was  in  all  likelihood  an 
affair  of  policy  rather  than  of  affection.  Curiously 
enough  it  is  not  in  the  historical  literature  of  Scot- 
land or  England  that  this  event  is  recorded,  but  in 
that  of  Iceland.  In  the  Orhneyinga  Saga  we 
meet  the  following  reference:  ^^Ingibiorg,  the 
mother  of  the  Earls,  was  married  to  Malcolm, 
King  of  Scots,  who  was  called  Langhals  (Long- 
neck),  and  their  son  was  Duncan,  King  of  Scots, 
the  father  of  William,  the  excellent  man :  His  son 
was  called  William  Odling  (the  noble),  whom 
all  the  Scots  wished  to  have  for  their  king.''  " 

Ingibiorg  was  the  widow  of  Thorfinn,  the  re- 
doubtable Earl  of  Orkney  whom  his  cousin  Dun- 
can, Canmore's  father,  had  utterly  failed  to  sub- 
due, and  who  died  in  1064.  Ingibiorg,  in  the 
words  of  the  editor  of  the  Saga,  must  have  been 
old  enough  to  be  Malcolm's  mother,'"  and  her  union 
with  Malcolm  was  of  short  duration.  Its  effect, 
however,  seems  to  have  been  such  as  the  king  de- 
sired, in  rendering  the  northern  portion  of  his  king- 
dom more  loyal  to  his  own  person  than  it  had 
been  to  any  of  those  who  reigned  in  Scotland 
before  him. 

The  offspring  of  this  union,  Duncan,  reigned 
over  Scotland  for  six  months  during  the  political 

"  Not  less  than  seven. 

"  The  Orhneyinga  Saga,  Chap.  XXIII,  p.  45.     (Edited  by- 
Joseph  Anderson.  Edinburgh,  Edmonston  &  Douglas,  1873.) 
*«/6i<f.,  p.  46. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  47 

turmoils  that  followed  the  death  of  Malcolm.  He  is 
represented  by  the  Scottish  historians  as  a  bastard, 
and  this  has  been  considered  by  some  to  point  to  a 
divorce  on  the  ground  of  consanguinity,  as  the 
termination  of  Malcolm's  first  marriage.  But  we 
have  no  information  on  this  point,  and  it  is  hardly 
likely  that  a  lady  of  Margaret's  scrupulously  pious 
character  would  have  become  Malcolm's  second 
wife  under  such  circumstances.'' 

When  William  the  Conqueror  overthrew  Har- 
old at  the  battle  of  Hastings  in  1066,  Malcolm's 
sympathies  naturally  went  out  to  the  dynasty  of 
the  Confessor,  who  had  been  his  friend  and  pro- 
tector of  old.  Edgar  the  .^heling  was  pro- 
claimed King  of  England,  and  the  Scottish  King 
promised  to  send  an  army  in  support  of  his  cause. 
The  attempt,  however,  came  to  grief  before  Mal- 
colm could  make  his  promise  good,  and  eventually 
Edgar,  with  his  mother  Agatha,  his  sisters  Mar- 
garet and  Christina,  and  several  of  the  English 
nobility,  sought  refuge  at  the  court  of  the  Scottish 
King.  The  exact  date  of  their  flight,  and  of  the 
marriage  of  Margaret,  cannot  be  ascertained,  for 
the  evidence  on  these  points  is  contradictory.  It 
is  not  even  clear  whether  the  royal  exiles  did  not 
flee  to  Scotland  more  than  once  and  return  again  to 


"  Yet  a  declaration  of  Malcolm's  former  marriage  as 
null  ah  initio,  as  would  have  been  the  case  for  consanguinity, 
might  not  have  been  looked  upon  as  discreditable  by  Mar- 
garet's advisers  in  those  days. 


48  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  7A^ 

England,  before  Margaret's  final  settlement  in  her 
new  home."  Somewhere,  however,  between  the 
years  1067  and  1070  it  is  certain  that  that  settle- 
ment took  place. 

Symeon  of  Durham  paints  a  stern  picture  of 
the  circumstances  in  which  Margaret  met  her  fu- 
ture husband.  The  exiles  were  at  Wearmouth, 
near  Durham,  waiting  with  a  few  ships  for  a 
favourable  wind  to  carry  them  to  Scotland,  when 
Malcolm  approached  at  the  head  of  a  large  army, 
laying  waste  the  country  without  mercy.  In  the 
lands  of  St.  Cuthbert  every  one  lost  all  his  posses- 
sions, and  some  were  slain.  At  Wearmouth  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter  was  burned  while  Malcolm 
looked  on,  and  other  churches  were  consumed  with 
the  unfortunate  wretches  who  had  sought  safety 
within  them.  Symeon  always  represents  Mal- 
colm as  a  monster  of  cruelty,  and  we  can  only  hope 
that  his  descriptions  are  exaggerated.  He  goes 
on  to  say  that  Malcolm  was  riding  about  the  banks 
of  the  river  Wear,  feasting  eyes  and  mind  upon 
the  sight  of  the  cruelties  that  his  men  were  inflict- 
ing on  the  miserable  English,  when  news  was 
brought  to  him  that  Edgar  and  his  royal  sisters 
and  several  others  of  exalted  rank  had  sailed  into 
the  harbour  as  exiles.  Despite  the  cruel  nature  of 
his  work,  the  Scottish  King  received  the  refugees 
kindly.     He  gave  them  his  right  hand,  and  spoke 


"  Freeman,  Norman  Conquest,  IV,  pp.  195,  243,  and  506. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  49 

words  of  friendship,  promising  them  and  theirs  a 
peaceful  dwelling  place  in  his  kingdom  as  long  as 
they  might  wish''.  So  the  exiles  passed  on  to  Scot- 
land, leaving  Malcolm  to  harry  the  country  still 
more  fiercely. 

The  town  of  Dunfermline,  where  the  Scottish 
court  was  then  situated,^*  is  perhaps  now  best 
known  as  a  prosperous  centre  of  linen  manufac- 
ture. Yet  it  has  happily  escaped  the  fate  of  be- 
coming so  modernized  as  to  lose  all  traces  of  its 
early  history.  In  the  beautiful  Pittencrieff  Glen 
one  may  still  wander  among  scenes  that  were  fa- 
miliar to  Malcolm  and  Margaret.  The  remains 
of  Malcolm's  Tower  are  still  visible  upon  a  steep 
peninsular  crag,  overlooking  the  stream  which 
flows  down  the  glen,  and  a  hundred  yards  or  so  in 
front  stands  the  Abbey  Church  with  its  venerable 
nave,  on  the  site  where  the  royal  pair  erected  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  as  a  memorial  of  their 
marriage.  The  impressive  ruins  of  the  monastery 
and  of  the  royal  palace,  which  lie  close  at  hand, 
belong  to  a  later  date,  but  the  little  cave  of  St. 
Margaret,  situated  about  290  yards  up  the  stream, 
may  well  have  been  a  retreat  used  by  the  Queen 
for  purposes  of  devotion. 

Margaret,  as  we  have  seen,  was  at  first  un- 


""^  Historia  Regum,  A.  D.  1070,  p.  190. 

^*  Quite  at  the  south  of  Celtic  Scotland,  and  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  river  Forth,  the  dividing  line  between  Saxon 
and  Celt. 


50  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

willing  to  become  Malcolm's  wife,  and  it  was  more 
owing  to  the  wishes  of  her  relations  than  of  her- 
self that  at  last  she  consented/'  The  marriage  was 
celebrated  at  Dunfermline  by  Fothad,  the  Celtic 
Bishop  of  St.  Andrews/'  and  its  subsequent  happi- 
ness soon  belied  the  bride's  hesitancy.  The  com- 
plete and  touching  devotion  of  the  warrior  hus- 
band, the  sweet  and  uplifting  influence  of  the  gen- 
tle wife,  and  their  thorough  union  in  all  good 
works  furnish  to  all  time  a  beautiful  picture  of 
what  a  wedded  life  may  be. 

If  Malcolm's  Tower  represented  the  whole  ex- 
tent of  the  royal  residence  at  Dunfermline,"  Mar- 
garet's first  establishment  as  Queen  of  Scotland 
must  have  been  a  modest  one  indeed.  Owing  to 
the  nature  of  the  site  it  is  certain  that  the  dimen- 
sions of  this  building  were  exceedingly  small, 
hardly  sufficient  indeed  for  the  requirements  of 
the  tiniest  of  modern  shooting  boxes.  But  the 
young  bride,  with  her  recollections  of  Hungary 
and  of  England,  had  her  own  ideas  of  what  a 
king's  court  should  be,  and  we  may  feel  assured 
that  she  did  not  long  delay  in  seeing  them  put  into 
practice.  She  rendered,  we  are  told,"  the  magnifi- 


"Life,  Chap.  I,  6.     Pinkerton's  edition. 

"  Grub,  Vol.  I,  p.  190. 

"Malcolm  had  a  hunting  seat,  of  which  ruins  still 
exist,  at  Castleton  of  Braemar,  in  the  Deeside  Highlands, 
and  it  was  in  Edinburgh  Castle  that  Margaret  died. 

''Life,  II,  11. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  51 

cence  of  the  king's  royal  splendour  much  more  mag- 
nificent, and  also  greatly  raised  the  standard  of  out- 
ward dignity  among  the  nobles  and  their  depend- 
ants. She  brought  it  about  that  foreign  traders  came 
to  Scotland  by  land  and  sea,  who  introduced  many 
precious  wares  which  till  then  were  unknown  in 
the  land,  such  as  garments  of  various  colours  and 
ornaments  of  apparel.  These  latter,  it  would 
seem,  she  even  took  care  that  the  ladies  among  her 
new  subjects  should  purchase,'"*  so  that  new  fash- 
ions in  dress  abounded,  with  the  happiest  of  re- 
sults in  the  appearance  of  the  wearers. 

With  the  same  end  in  view  Margaret  reconsti- 
tuted the  arrangements  for  attendance  on  the  King. 
Wherever  he  went,  whether  walking  or  riding, 
there  now  attended  to  do  him  honour  a  large  re- 
tinue, so  strictly  disciplined  that  none  dared  to 
rob  anyone  on  the  way,  nor  to  oppress  or  hurt  the 
country  people  or  the  poor.  Finally,  we  are  told, 
that  she  greatly  increased  the  embellishments 
(ornamenta)  of  the  royal  palace.  It  was  bright 
with  hangings  (palliorum)  of  varied  beauty,  and 
the  whole  house  {domus)  shone  with  gold  and 
silver.  At  this  point,  however,  our  biographer's 
conscience  seems  to  have  pricked  him,  for  he  goes 
on  to  explain  that  the  last  mentioned  splendour 
was  due  to  the  fact  th^t  the  vessels  in  which  food 
and  drink  were  served  to  the  King  and  his  nobles 


*  compellente  Regina, 


62  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

were  either  of  gold  or  silver,  or  else  gilt  or  silver- 
plated. 

It  is  abundantly  clear  that  Margaret's  efforts 
to  improve  the  character  of  her  surroundings,  and 
to  increase  her  husband's  royal  dignity,  were  not 
inspired  by  any  love  of  worldly  display  for  its 
own  sake,  but  resulted  from  her  enlightened  sense 
of  duty.  We  can  easily  imagine  in  how  many 
respects  the  rude  and  half-civilized  manners  of  her 
adopted  country  would  grate  upon  Margaret's 
sense  of  fitness,  and  how  naturally  one  gifted  with 
her  genius  for  management  would  set  herself  to 
improve  matters.  Yet  her  personal  humility  was 
profound  and  sincere.  When  she  walked  adorned 
with  costly  raiment,  as  a  queen  should,  she,  like  an- 
other Esther,  trod  in  heart  all  her  trappings  under 
foot,  and  remembered  that  she  beneath  her  gems 
and  gold  was  only  dust  and  ashes.'"  She  continually 
kept  in  her  mind  some  of  those  solemn  words  of 
Scripture  which  speak  of  the  frailty  and  the 
shortness  of  human  life,"  and  often  she  would  ask 
the  writer  of  the  Life  to  rebuke  her  in  private 
without  hesitation,  whenever  he  noticed  anything 
blameworthy  in  her  words  or  actions.  She  would 
even  take  her  spiritual  adviser  to  task  on  occasion 
(importunam  se  mihi  ingerehat)  if  she  thought 
that  he  was  performing  his  duty  of  censor  less  fre- 


'^Life,  II,  12. 

"  Like  Job  xiv,  1  and  2 ;  St.  Jas.  iv,  14. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  68 

quently  and  more  gently  than  was  necessary,  so 
keenly  was  she  set  upon  growth  in  grace  before  all 
things. 

Soon  after  Margaret  became  Queen  she  built, 
we  are  told,  a  noble  church  in  the  place  where  her 
marriage  had  been  celebrated,  in  honour  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  and  as  an  eternal  monument  of  her 
name  and  of  her  piety.  The  epithets  "noble"  and 
"eternal"  suggest  a  building  both  beautiful  and 
substantial,  but  architectural  considerations  for- 
bid us  to  conclude  that  the  venerable  and  impres- 
sive nave  of  the  Abbey  Church,  which  still  stands 
with  its  massive  columns  and  its  general  structure 
so  reminiscent  of  Durham  Cathedral,  is  the  very 
church  which  Malcolm  and  Margaret  built  and  in 
which  they  worshipped."  It  probably  stood  upon 
the  site  which  was  afterwards  occupied  by  the 
choir  built  in  the  thirteenth  century. 

An  interesting  letter '*  of  Lanfranc,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  to  Margaret,  which  has  survived 
the  ravages  of  time,  may  perhaps  be  connected 
with  the  building  of  the  royal  church.  Lanfranc 
mentions  that  he  is  sending,  as  requested,  the  monk 
Goldewin  to  perform  some  service  to  the  royal 
pair,  and  that  two  other  brethren  accompany  him. 


"MacGibbon  &  Ross.  Ecclesiastical  Architecture  of 
Scotland  from  the  Earliest  Christian  Times  to  the  Seven- 
teenth Century.  (Edinburgh,  Douglas,  1896.)  Vol.  I,  p. 
231. 

^  Translated  in  Appendix  C. 


M  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

The  work,  whatever  it  is,  has  been  already  begun 
^^for  the  sake  of  God  and  of  your  souls."  The 
absence  of  the  monks  from  Canterbury  is  highly 
inconvenient,  and  Lanfranc  hopes  that  they  may 
soon  be  sent  back,  if  others  can  be  found  to  com- 
plete the  work  in  Scotland.  This  work  is  usually 
connected  with  Margaret's  efforts  to  reform  the 
manners  of  the  Scots  and  the  customs  of  the 
Celtic  Church,"  but  the  above-quoted  phrase,  "for 
the  sake  of  God  and  of  your  souls,"  suggests  a  con- 
nection with  the  statement  in  the  Life^*  that  the 
threefold  purpose  for  which  the  church  was  built 
was  the  redemption  of  the  souls  of  Malcolm  and 
Margaret,  and  the  welfare  of  their  offspring  in  the 
present  life  and  in  that  which  is  to  come.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  '*  the  letter  throws  a  curious  light 
upon  Lanfranc's  relations  with  Scotland.  It 
seems  strange  that  Margaret  had  asked  the  right- 
hand  man  of  the  Conqueror  who  had  dispossessed 
her  brother  of  the  throne  of  England  to  become  her 
spiritual  father.  Such  a  request  was  very  wel- 
come to  one  with  the  political  and  ecclesiastical 
aims  of  the  great  Archbishop,  while  it  reveals  the 
strength  of  Margaret's  desire  to  bring  Southron 
influences  to  bear  upon  the  Scottish  Church. 

Margaret's  chronicler  takes  occasion,  as  the  ex- 


"  l»  7. 

»*  Enquiry  at  the  Lambeth  library  has  failed  to  elicit 
any  evidence  that  Goldewin  was  an  architect,  or  that  he 
was  employed  in  any  of  Lanfranc*s  building  schemes. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  55 

sacristan  of  Dunfermline  Church  might  well  do, 
to  record  the  Queen's  gifts  of  vessels  of  solid  gold 
for  the  sacred  service  of  the  altar,  as  well  as  a 
priceless  crucifix  covered  with  gold  and  silver  and 
gems,  and  other  decorative  gifts.  Various  other 
churches  were  similarly  adorned  by  her  bounty, 
as  for  instance  the  Church  of  St.  Andrews,  where 
a  very  beautiful  crucifix  at  the  time  when  the  Life 
was  written  bore  witness  to  Margaret's  devotion 
and  faith.  Her  chamber  was,  we  are  told,  like 
a  workshop  of  sacred  handicraft,  for  it  never 
lacked  a  supply  of  cantor's  copes,  chasubles,  stoles, 
altar  coverings,  and  other  priestly  vestments  and 
church  ornaments,  some  in  course  of  being  made, 
and  others  already  finished  for  the  admiration  of 
beholders.^* 

These  works  were  entrusted  to  noble  ladies  of 
discreet  manners,  to  whom  Margaret  herself  had 
doubtless  taught  the  secrets  of  that  exquisite  em- 
broidery, the  Opus  Anglicum,  for  which  the 
ladies  of  England  were  so  famous.  A  fitting  at- 
mosphere, we  are  assured,  pervaded  the  chamber 
while  the  ladies  worked.  No  men  were  allowed 
to  enter  unless,  as  sometimes  happened,  the  Queen 
brought  them  with  her.  There  was  no  unbecom- 
ing familiarity  allowed  with  men,  nor  any  saucy 
levity,  for  the  Queen  was  as  strict  as  she  was 
sweet,   and  inspired  fear  as  well  as  love.     Our 

••Life,  I,  7. 


56  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

worthy  chronicler  draws  a  truly  monkish  picture 
of  an  eleventh  century  work-party,  but  after  all 
he,  being  a  man,  would  have  been  but  rarely  there 
to  see. 

Other  religious  benefactions  by  the  Queen  of 
a  more  substantial  character  are  recorded.  For 
the  convenience  of  devout  persons  journeying  to 
the  Church  of  St.  Andrews,  which,  it  is  interesting 
to  learn,  was  a  place  of  pilgrimage  in  the  eleventh 
century,  she  erected  hostels  on  either  side  of  ^^the 
sea  which  divides  Lothian  from  Scotland."  The 
names  of  North  and  South  Queensferry,  at  either 
end  of  the  great  railway  bridge  which  now  spans 
the  Forth,  still  commemorate  this  act  of  pious 
hospitality,  by  which  the  stranger  and  the  poor 
found  shelter,  food,  and  ferry,  without  the  pay- 
ment of  fee  or  reward.  Ordericus  Vitalis  also 
records  the  fact  that  lona  benefitted  by  Margaret's 
munificence,  for  she  restored  the  monastery  build- 
ings there  which  had  fallen  into  ruin  through  the 
ravages  of  war  and  of  time,  and  bestowed  upon  the 
monks  sufficient  means  to  enable  them  to  carry  on 
the  Lord's  work."  The  tiny  chapel  which  stands  on 
the  summit  of,  Edinburgh  Castle  rock  is  popularly 
regarded  as  the  oratory  which  St.  Margaret  used 
when  in  residence  there,  and  there  is  something 
to  be  said  for  the  view  that  parts  of  it  date  from 


'  Grub,  I,  p.  193. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  57 

her  time,  notwithstanding  subsequent  alterations/' 
Malcolm  is  associated  with  his  wife  in  the 
record  of  a  grant  of  lands  to  the  Culdees  of  Loch- 
leven,  and  it  is  due  to  the  King's  memory  to  add 
that  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  he  founded 
the  bishopric  of  Mortlach/*  the  beginning  of  the 
see  of  Aberdeen,  in  the  sixth  year  of  his  reign,  and 
therefore  before  his  marriage  with  Margaret.  The 
Church  of  Monymusk  in  Aberdeenshire  is  also  be- 
lieved to  have  been  founded  by  Malcolm,  when  en- 
camped there  on  a  warlike  expedition. 

Of  Margaret's  public  activities  there  seems  to 
have  been  no  end.  Everything,  we  are  told,  which 
it  was  fitting  for  the  prudent  queen  to  order,  was 
under  her  control.  The  laws  of  the  realm  were 
codified  *°  by  her  counsel,  the  influence  of  religion 
was  extended  and  the  prosperity  of  the  nation  in- 
creased by  her  labours.  Amongst  these  labours 
was  the  institution  of  frequent  councils,  whose 
object  was  the  suppression  of  various  Celtic  cus- 
toms which  appeared  to  her  to  be  contrary  to  the 
rule  of  right  faith,  and  the  sacred  use  of  the 
Universal  Church." 


»»Mac  Gibbon  &  Ross  (Vol.  I,  p.  230)  do  not  think  that 
the  Chapel  was  erected  in  the  eleventh  century. 

"  Grub,  I,  193.  The  evidence,  however,  is  of  doubtful 
authority. 

"Or  perhaps  even  administered.  The  Latin  is  dispon- 
ehantur.     I,  6. 

*^  By  this  time  people  had  begun  to  forget  the  East,  and 
the  existence  of  Galilean  customs  in  the  West. 


58  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Reasons  have  been  given  above  for  believing 
that  Lanfranc's  letter  to  Margaret  may  not  refer 
to  these  councils,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  the  English  Archbishop  was  the  prime  cause 
of  their  being  held.  Lanfranc,  an  Italian  by  birth, 
a  lawyer  of  the  Empire,  and  a  devotee  of  the 
Papacy,"  was  hardly  less  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  the  Conqueror  than  to  those  of  the  Pope.  His 
correspondence  with  Irish  kings  and  Bishops  re- 
veals a  policy  on  his  part  of  bringing  Ireland  into 
closer  ecclesiastical  touch  with  England,  with  a 
view  doubtless  to  its  peaceful  political  absorption 
by  William  when  the  proper  time  came."  This 
policy  could  not  have  failed  to  embrace  Scotland 
also,  which  was  bound  to  England  by  closer  ties 
still.**  Lanfranc  exhorts  his  correspondents  in 
Ireland  to  reform  various  abuses,  especially  with 
regard  to  marriage  and  divorce,  and  in  a  letter  to 
Terdelvagus  or  Terence,  King  of  Ireland,  he  even 
urges  the  holding  of  a  council  of  Bishops  and  re- 
ligious men,  at  which  the  king  and  his  nobility 
should  be  present,  in  order  to  exterminate  the 
evil  customs  to  which  he  refers.*'  Had  the  Arch- 
bishop's Scottish  correspondence  been  equally  well 


«  Freeman,  IV,  p.  440.       "  lUd.,  pp.  526-530. 

"Malcolm  seems  to  have  rendered  feudal  submission  of 
some  kind  to  William  on  two  separate  occasions,  at  York 
and  at  Abernethy:    Ihid.,  pp.  206  and  517. 

«  Migne,  Pair.  Lat.  Vol.  CL,  Epistle  38.  Cf.  also  Epistles 
33,  36,  and  37. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  59 

preserved,  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that 
we  should  find  evidence  that  the  idea  of  Mar- 
garet's councils  came  from  him. 

A  description  is  given  of  the  chief  of  these 
gatherings,  which  lasted  three  days.  The  queen 
was  assisted  in  her  combat  against  the  upholders 
of  "perverse"  usage  only  by  a  very  few  friends, 
but  the  chair  was  occupied  by  her  husband,  who, 
knowing  both  Gaelic  and  English  perfectly,  acted 
as  interpreter,  and  who  was,  we  are  significantly 
told,  fully  prepared  to  say  and  do  whatever  she 
ordered  in  the  matter  at  issue.**  We  can  easily 
suppose  that  in  such  circumstances  the  queen's 
arguments  proved  irresistible,  although  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  the  resultant  reforms  were 
not  so  complete  as  they  are  represented  to  have 
been. 

The  first  point  of  discussion  was  the  usage  of 
beginning  Lent  not  on  Ash  Wednesday,  but  on  the 
Monday  following.  Margaret  may  be  pardoned 
for  not  knowing  that  this  was  simply  an  ancient 
usage  of  Western  Christendom.  It  is  followed  to 
this  day  in  the  Church  of  St.  Ambrose  at  Milan, 
although  in  the  queen's  eyes  it  was  "a  novel  and 
foreign  institution."  A  more  serious  matter  was 
the  non-reception  of  the  Eucharist  on  Easter  Day. 
The  arguments  used  on  both  sides  seem  to  make 
it  clear  that  laymen  had  largely  ceased  to  com- 

^^Life,  II,  13. 


60  BIOGRAPHICAL  8TUDIE8  IN 

municate  at  all,  whether  at  Easter  or  at  any  other 
time,  except  perhaps  at  the  hour  of  death.  A 
third  point  was  the  celebration  of  Masses  in  some 
places  in  Scotland  with  some  barbarous  rite  or 
other,  which  contravened  the  usage  of  the  whole 
Church.  We  would  nowadays  give  something  to 
know  wherein  these  Celtic  peculiarities  precisely 
consisted,*'  but  details  of  such  a  kind  had  unfor- 
tunately no  interest  for  Margaret's  biographer. 
Again,  we  learn  that  it  was  customary  to  carry 
on  worldly  business  upon  the  Lord's  Day  as  on 
other  days,  and  that  the  queen  successfully  urged 
that  Sunday  was  to  be  reverenced  on  account  of 
our  Lord's  Kesurrection,  quoting  as  she  did  Pope 
Gregory  in  support  of  her  contention.  After  this 
no  one  dared  either  to  carry  a  burden  himself  on 
these  days  or  to  compel  another  to  do  so. 

Last  of  all,  the  royal  disputant  dealt  with  some 
of  the  moral  questions  which  arose  out  of  the  lax 
matrimonial  customs  of  Scotland.  It  had  been 
customary  for  a  man  to  marry  his  stepmother, 
and  for  a  surviving  brother  to  take  to  wife  the 
widow  of  his  deceased  brother.  Lanfranc's  Irish 
correspondence  shows  that  similar  divorce  customs 
obtained  in  Ireland,  but  Margaret's  passionate 
denunciation  of  such  evils  resulted  in  their  sup- 
pression in  Scotland.     Various  other  unspecified 


*'The   "barbarous  rite"  was  probably  the  old  Galilean 
Mass,  degenerate  and  badly  done. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  61 

abuses,  contrary  to  the  rule  of  faith  and  the  in- 
stitutions and  observances  of  the  Church,  were 
condemned  and  banished  from  the  realm. 

This  account  of  Margaret's  activities  as  Queen 
of  Scotland  reveals  a  character  that  was  remark- 
able in  many  respects.  Few  departments  of  pub- 
lic life  seem  to  have  been  left  untouched  by  her 
energy,  and  everywhere  she  left  such  a  mark  as 
only  a  very  good  and  very  capable  woman  could. 
When  we  turn  to  the  account  of  her  private  life, 
the  accuracy  of  which  there  seems  no  good  reason 
to  question,  a  still  deeper  impression  is  made  upon 
the  mind. 

Her  biographer  calls  her,  with  reference  to 
her  name,  a  pearl,  precious  in  faith  and  works, 
now  removed  from  the  dunghill  of  this  world  to 
her  place  among  the  jewels  of  the  Eternal  King. 
From  her  youth  she  had  been  remarked  for  the 
seriousness  of  her  character,  which  led  her  to  love 
God  above  all  things,  and  to  find  delight  in  the 
study  of  Divine  Scripture.  She  possessed,  we  are 
told,  many  natural  gifts,  a  keen  and  subtle  intelli- 
gence, a  very  retentive  memory,  and  a  faculty 
of  graceful  utterance."  Her  conversation  was  in- 
stinct with  wisdom,  her  sensitiveness  was  often 
revealed  by  her  tears,  her  manners  were  staid  and 
well-balanced,  and  her  affability  and  her  prudence 


"Life,  I,   6.     Lanfranc,  in  his  letter,  compliments  the 
Queen  upon  her  gifts  as  a  letter-writer. 


62  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

were  affectionately  remembered  by  her  biog- 
rapher.** Even  when  she  was  joyful  she  never  broke 
into  laughter,  nor  when  she  was  angry  did  she 
give  way  to  fury/"*  When  sometimes  she  rebuked 
the  faults  of  others — ^her  own  she  always  chid — 
she  followed  the  precept  of  the  Psalmist,  ^^Be  ye 
angry  and  sin  not." 

Margaret's  personal  habits  of  devotion,  and 
the  austerities  which  she  practised  seemed  even  in 
the  eyes  of  her  confessor  to  be  remarkable.  "Be- 
yond all  mortals  whom  I  now  know,"  he  says,  "she 
was  zealously  devoted  to  prayers  and  fastings,  to 
works  of  mercy  and  almsgiving."  "  In  church 
she  was  extremely  still,  so  wrapt  was  she  in  prayer. 
Never  would  she  speak,  when  in  God's  house,  on 
any  worldly  matter,  but  her  custom  was  only  to 
pray,  and  as  she  prayed  to  pour  forth  her  tears. 
As  to  her  fasts,  she  brought  on  herself  a  very 
severe    complaint  by  excessive  abstinence. 

Her  passion  for  almsgiving  was  never  satis- 
fied. She  would  have  given  to  the  poor,  we  are 
told,  not  only  what  she  possessed,  but  herself  if 
she  could.  Out  of  doors  she  was  attended  by 
crowds  of  poor  people,  orphans,  and  widows,  who 
never  went  away  empty.  After  she  had  dis- 
tributed what  she  had  brought  with  her  for  the 
needy,  she  would  borrow  from  her  rich  compan- 
ions or  her  servants,  garments  or  whatever  they 


*»Ufe,  I,  1.  ''Life,  I,  8.  '^ Life,  III,  18. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  63 

had,  always  taking  care  to  repay  these  loans  twice 
over.  Sometimes  she  would  even  pillage  the 
king's  private  property  for  the  same  purpose,  a 
proceeding  which  he  regarded  with  complete 
equanimity.  Even  when  he  caught  her,  as  he  did 
sometimes,  in  the  act  of  robbing  the  store  of 
gold  coins  which  were  kept  ready  for  the  royal 
offering  on  Maundy  Thursday  and  at  Mass,  he 
would  joke  with  his  fair  culprit  on  her  crime." 

The  forty  days  before  Christmas,  and  the  sea- 
son of  Lent  were  marked  in  a  special  way.  The 
queen's  custom  during  these  periods  was  to  rest 
for  a  little  in  the  beginning  of  the  night,  after 
which  she  went  into  the  church.  There  alone  she 
said  the  Matins  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  then  the 
Matins  of  the  Holy  Cross,  and  lastly  those  of  the 
Blessed  Mary.  After  this  she  went  through  the 
Offices  of  the  Dead,  and  then  she  recited  the 
"Psalter."  ^^  When  the  proper  hour  came  for  the 
priests  to  say  the  morning  Lauds  (matutinas 
Laudes)  she  meanwhile  finished  the  Psalter  which 
she  had  begun,  or  if  she  had  completed  it,  began 
its  recitation  a  second  time.  This  service  ended, 
she  went  to  her  chamber  and  along  with  the  king 
washed  the  feet  of  six  poor  persons,  collected  by 


'^Life,  III,  18. 

"^The  word  "Psalterium"  sometimes  meant  the  seven 
Penitential  Psalms.  Dowden,  Mediaeval  CfiMrch  in  Scot- 
land, p.  84. 


64  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

her  chamberlain,  and  gave  them  alms.  Then  at 
last  she  went  to  take  some  rest  and  sleep." 

In  the  morning  she  rose  and  betook  herself  to 
prayer  and  the  reading  of  the  Psalms,  intermingled 
with  further  works  of  mercy.  Nine  destitute  orphan 
children  were  brought  in  at  the  first  hour  of  the 
day,  and  fed  with  soft  food  such  as  infants  like. 
The  queen  would  take  them  on  her  knees,  and 
feed  them  with  her  own  spoon.  Three  hundred 
people  were  meanwhile  assembled  in  the  royal 
hall,  and  seated  round  it  in  order.  Then  the  king 
and  the  queen  entered  with  the  chaplains  and  a 
few  others,  and  waited  upon  Christ  in  the  person 
of  His  poor,  the  king  on  one  side  and  the  queen 
upon  the  other. 

The  queen  then  used  to  return  to  church  for 
further  devotion.  We  are  told  that  on  holy  days, 
in  addition  to  the  Hours  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
the  Holy  Cross  and  Holy  Mary,  she  recited  the 
^Tsalter"  twice  or  even  thrice  in  the  space  of  a 
day  and  a  night,  and  that  before  the  celebration 
of  the  public  Mass,  and  she  caused  five  or  six  pri- 
vate Masses  to  be  sung  in  her  presence.  In  con- 
clusion, before  her  own  repast  was  served,  she 
humbly  ministered  to  the  wants  of  twenty-four 
poor  people,  who  by  her  orders  lived  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, and  accompanied  her  on  all  her  jour- 
neys.    In  this  meal  she  hardly  allowed  herself 

"111,21. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  65 

the  necessities  of  life.  Her  whole  life  was  indeed 
marked  with  self-denial,  but  at  these  seasons  of 
Lent  and  Advent  her  abstinence  was  incredible, 
and  brought  on  a  painful  disorder  of  the  stomach, 
from  which  she  suffered  until  the  end  of  her  life." 
It  is  doubtless  easy  to  criticise  Margaret's  type  of 
piety,  as  many  have  done,  but  critics  would  do  well 
to  ask  themselves  first  whether  they  possess  such 
a  sense  of  moral  and  spiritual  superiority  over  the 
good  queen,  as  to  make  it  worth  their  while. 

Like  a  good  mother,  Margaret  bestowed  much 
care  in  the  upbringing  of  her  children.  She  would 
not  allow  their  royal  birth  to  shield  them  from  the 
due  punishment  of  their  faults  of  conduct,  believ- 
ing as  she  did  that  whoso  spares  the  rod  hates  his 
child.  As  a  result  of  her  care,  her  children  grew 
up  distinguished  both  for  good  behaviour  and  for 
reverence  in  church.  In  after  life  they  all,  with  one 
exception,  did  every  credit  to  their  mother's  lov- 
ing care.  Three  of  her  six  sons — Edgar,  Alexan- 
der, and  David — became  kings  of  Scotland,  whose 
influence  on  the  nation  and  on  the  Church  was  all 
for  good,  and  of  her  two  daughters  one  was  Ma- 
tilda, the  good  Queen  Maude  of  England. 

Malcolm's  devotion  to  his  saintly  wife  was  most 
beautiful,  and  under  her  influence  his  fierce  char- 
acter was  greatly  softened  and  elevated.  He  be- 
came attentive  to  works  of  justice,  mercy,   and 


'  Life,  III,  23. 


66  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

almsgiving,  and  other  virtues.  He  learnt  to  keep 
night  vigils  and  to  pray  to  God  with  heartfelt 
groanings  and  tears.  ^^I  was  astonished,  I  con- 
fess," says  the  biographer,  ^^at  the  great  miracle 
of  God's  mercy,  when  I  perceived  in  the  king  at 
times  such  earnestness  in  prayer,  and  in  the  heart 
of  a  man  living  in  the  world  such  compunction 
for  sin.  There  was  in  him  a  sort  of  dread  of 
offending  one  whose  life  was  so  worthy  of  venera- 
tion, for  he  saw  that  Christ  in  very  deed  dwelt 
within  her;  yea,  he  hastened  to  obey  in  all  things 
her  wishes  and  wise  counsels."  °* 

In  the  Town  Hall  of  Dunfermline  there  hangs 
a  fine  picture,  painted  by  the  late  Sir  ifoel  Paton, 
which  illustrates  the  words  of  the  biography. 
Margaret  and  Malcolm  are  sitting  in  a  beautiful 
nook  in  the  glen,  studying  together  the  Scriptures. 
Malcolm's  head  rests  upon  his  hand  as  he  tries  to 
follow  the  teaching  of  his  beloved  instructor,  while 
Margaret's  hands  rest,  one  upon  the  sacred  volume, 
the  other  upon  her  husband,  as  if  she  would  con- 
nect them  by  the  influence  of  her  own  personality. 
Although  he  could  not  read  his  wife's  books,  Mal- 
colm would  turn  them  over  and  examine  them, 
and  when  she  expressed  for  one  a  particular  affec- 
tion he  would  kiss  it  and  often  touch  it  with  his 
hands.  Sometimes  he  sent  for  a  gold-smith  and 
commissioned  him  to  ornament  the  volume  hand- 


w  lAfe,  II,  10. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  67 

somely  with  gold  and  gems.  Then  when  the  work 
was  finished  he  would  carry  the  book  back  to  the 
queen  as  a  loving  proof  of  his  devotion." 

Although  even  Margaret  could  not  persuade 
her  husband  to  refrain  from  his  terrible  forays 
in  England,  she  set  herself  to  alleviate  the  lot  of 
the  unhappy  English  captives  who  had  been  car- 
ried away  to  Scotland  by  the  raiders  and  reduced 
to  slavery.  She  had  enquiries  made  throughout 
the  provinces  of  Scotland  for  cases  of  special 
cruelty  and  inhumanity  to  slaves,  and  had  them 
ransomed  and  set  at  liberty  forthwith.  In  this 
connection  mention  may  be  made  of  the  queen's 
fondness  for  visiting  the  anchorites  who  abounded 
in  many  places  throughout  Scotland.  As  she 
could  not  induce  them  to  accept  any  gift,  she  would 
beg  them  to  enjoin  upon  her  some  almsdeed  or 
work  of  mercy,  which  she  was  careful  to  perform. 

Malcolm's  last  and  fatal  excursion  into  Eng- 
land took  place  in  1093.  Margaret  was  in  feeble 
health,  and  plead  in  vain  that  her  husband  should 
not  leave  her.  On  the  day  that  Malcolm  was 
entrapped  in  an  ambush  near  the  town  of  Alnwick 
and  slain  along  with  Edward  his  son  and  heir, 
Margaret  was  heard  to  utter  a  prediction  of  griev- 
ous calamity.  On  the  fourth  day  the  queen,  now 
dwelling  in  Edinburgh  Castle,  rose  and  went  into 
her  oratory  to  hear  Mass,  and  to  partake  of  the 

"II,  11. 


68  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

^^holy  viaticum  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our 
Lord."  Returning  to  bed,  she  became  much  worse, 
and  the  clergy  were  summoned  to  recite  the  psalms 
for  the  commendation  of  a  departing  soul.  As 
she  lay,  holding  the  famous  cross  called  the  Black 
Rood  of  Scotland  before  her  eyes,  and  repeating 
the  Fifty-first  Psalm,  her  son  Edgar,  who  had 
escaped  from  the  battlefield,  entered  the  room. 
Stricken  with  this  new  calamity,  he  tried  to  keep 
the  sad  news  from  his  dying  mother,  but  on  being 
adjured  by  the  sacred  cross  to  tell  the  truth,  he 
related  exactly  what  had  happened.  Then  the 
end  came.  The  saintly  queen  praised  God  for 
granting  her  purification  from  some  of  her  sins 
by  this  deep  sorrow  at  the  last,  and  uttered  the 
prayer  usually  said  by  a  priest  before  he  com- 
municates: "Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  according  to 
the  Father's  will,  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  hast  by  Thy  death  given  life  to  the  world, 
deliver  me."  As  she  uttered  the  words  "deliver 
me,"  her  soul  departed  to  Christ. 

Thus  ended  a  momentous  chapter  in  the  his- 
tory of  Scotland.  It  is  true  that  when  Margaret 
died,  her  life  work  seemed  to  have  gone  for  little. 
The  Celtic  patriots  were  in  open  rebellion,  and  Ed- 
inburgh Castle  was  in  a  state  of  siege.  Margaret's 
body  had  to  be  removed  by  stealth  to  Dunfermline 
for  burial,  and  it  was  Malcolm's  brother,  Donald 
Bane,  who  next  became  King  of  Scotland,  after 
whom  reigned  the  son,  not  of  Margaret,  but  of 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  69 

Ingibiorg.  In  due  course,  however,  the  Saxon 
influence  in  Scotland  came  uppermost,  and  the 
seeds  sown  by  the  good  queen  bore  their  fruit  in 
due  season.  The  life  and  power  of  the  old  Celtic 
Church  passed  away,  and  Margaret's  sons  built 
up  upon  the  old  foundations,  the  framework  of 
the  Mediaeval  Church  in  Scotland.  And  through 
all  ecclesiastical  changes  in  Scotland  the  memory 
of  Margaret  remains  green — for  it  is  the  memory 
of  a  good  woman,  a  tender  and  wise  wife  and 
mother,  and  a  true  saint  of  God. 


III-THE  MEDIAEVAL  PERIOD 

Bishop  Elphinstone  of  Aberdeen 

(Bom  1431— Died  1514) 

The  life  of  William  Elphinstone,  the  greatly 
venerated  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  stands  out  as  one  of 
the  few  bright  spots  in  the  history  of  the  later 
Mediaeval  Church  in  Scotland.  In  an  age  that 
was  marked  by  a  grievous  decay  of  religion  and 
morality,  when  the  forces  were  slowly  but  surely 
gathering  that  burst  in  the  cataclysm  of  the  Scot- 
tish Eeformation,  he  furnished  a  splendid  example 
of  what  a  ruler  of  the  Church  might  still  be. 
Amidst  men  who  were  grasping  and  selfish,  and 
who  sought  to  exploit  both  Church  and  State  for 
their  own  ends,  he  laboured  for  his  country's  good, 
a  statesman  both  upright  and  patriotic,  and  a 
benefactor  both  generous  and  far-seeing.  When 
looseness  of  Church  discipline  was  an  all  but  ac- 
cepted fact  his  strong  hand  restored  the  ancient 
strictness  within  the  bounds  of  his  diocese.  Amidst 
the  clash  of  old  and  new  ideas,  the  Humanities 
of  the  Renaissance,  and  the  Scholasticism  which 
had  reigned  for  centuries,  he  founded  a  university 
where  both  might  find  a  hearing  and  a  home.    And 


BISHOP  ELPHINSTONE 

From  a  contemporary  painting 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  71 

best  of  all,  in  evil  days  when  Popes  were  wicked 
and  kings  were  dissolute,  he  lived  a  life  of  sim- 
plicity and  of  saintliness  which  was  admired  by 
the  men  of  his  own  day,  and  which  has  not  lost 
its  pleasant  savonr  after  many  centuries,  and  many 
changes  of  faith  and  religion.  For  the  Aberdeen 
of  to-day  remembers  him  as  he  was  remembered  in 
the  years  before  the  Reformation  by  the  name  of 
^^the  good  Bishop  Elphinstone." 

In  no  part  of  Scotland  does  there  exist  at  this 
day  a  kindlier  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  general 
community  towards  Episcopacy  than  in  the  dio- 
cese over  which  Elphinstone  once  ruled,  and  no- 
where else  did  the  final  triumph  of  Presbyterian- 
ism  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  prove 
so  difficult  and  so  long  delayed.  This  fact  is  to 
be  attributed  not  merely  to  native  Aberdeen  stub- 
bornness, but  also  in  no  small  degree  to  the  abiding 
influence  of  the  gracious  memory  of  this  saintly 
prelate  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

His  tomb  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  College 
Chapel  which  he  built  in  Aberdeen,  in  front  of  the 
spot  where  the  high  altar  once  stood,  now  occupied 
by  the  oflicial  seat  of  the  principal  of  the  imi- 
versity.  Only  a  table  slab  of  blue  marble  now 
remains  of  the  once  stately  monument.  In  its 
upper  part  rested  the  Bishop's  effigy,  robed  in 
pontificals,  with  two  angels  holding  candelabra 
over  his  head,  and  two  attendants  at  his  feet  bear- 
ing an  epitaph  graven  in  brass,  while  below  there 


72  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

were  eight  figures  in  brass,  representing  the  three 
theological  virtues  and  contemplation,  and  the  four 
cardinal  virtues/  All  these  figures,  designed 
though  they  were  to  remind  future  ages  of  the 
excellence  of  this  good  man's  character,  were  de- 
stroyed after  the  Reformation  as  emblems  of  idol- 
atry. We  live,  however,  in  happier  and  wiser 
times  now,  and  within  a  few  months,  through 
the  efforts  of  members  of  the  University  which  he 
founded,  the  Bishop's  tomb  will  be  restored  to 
something  like  its  original  beauty. 

A  probably  contemporary  portrait  of  Elphin- 
stone,  which  hangs  in  the  Senatus  Room  at  King's 
College,  confirms  the  testimony  which  the  original 
tomb  was  meant  to  bear.  Eobed  as  he  is  in  a 
gorgeous  embroidered  cope  and  a  richly  jewelled 
mitre,  his  pastoral  staff  in  his  bosom,  and  his  well 
beringed  hands  held  in  an  attitude  of  prayer,  his 
face  suggests  an  inner  spirit  aloof  from  and  above 
all  mere  worldly  things.  There  is  something 
intensely  calm  and  inflexible  in  its  expression. 
The  eyes,  set  wide  apart,  look  out  upon  the  world 
and  beyond  it  with  something  of  knowledge  and 
something  of  longing.  The  sensitive  nostril  re- 
veals refinement  and  high  ideals,  and  the  strong, 
sweet  mouth,  set  slightly  forward,  bespeaks  inner 
intensity  and  keenness.  Overshadowed  as  the 
face  is  by  the  tall  mitre,  it  suggests  the  cloistered 


^  Fasti  Aherdonenses,  p.  562. 


KING'S  COLLEGE    CHAPEL,   ABERDEEN 
Crown  Tower 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  73 

ascetic  rather  than  the  man  of  affairs,  but  when 
the  ecclesiastical  adornments  are  shut  out  from 
the  range  of  vision,  the  features  become  almost 
startlingly  human. 

For  the  facts  of  Elphinstone's  life  we  are  in  the 
main  indebted  to  the  biography  written  by  his 
friend,  Hector  Boece  (Boys),  the  first  Principal 
of  the  University  of  Aberdeen.  Boece,  who  de- 
scribes himself  as  "of  Dundee,"  was  an  alumnus 
of  the  University  of  Paris  in  the  springtime  of  the 
Renaissance.  At  the  College  of  Montague,  where 
he  studied,  were  great  and  famous  men,  Erasmus 
of  Rotterdam,  "the  glory  and  ornament  of  our 
age";  John  Major  of  Haddingtonshire,  "the  pro- 
found theologian,  whose  writings,  like  brightest 
torches,  have  shed  a  glorious  light  upon  the  Chris- 
tian religion,"  and  others  ^  who  were  notable  in 
their  day.  Boece  tells  us  that  Bishop  Elphinstone 
induced  him  by  gifts  and  promises  to  leave  his 
philosophical  studies  in  Paris,  and  undertake  the 
management  of  the  new  University  at  Aberdeen. 
There  he  proved  himself  a  teacher  of  great  ability, 
and  an  historian  of  singular  unveracity.  His  His- 
tory of  Scotland,  published  in  1527,  reveals  a 
credulous  and  unscientific  spirit  which  has  done 
much  to  mar  his  reputation.     Leland's  wellknown 


^  Lives  of  the  Bishops  of  Aberdeen.     Edited  by  Dr.  Moir. 
pp.  88-89. 


74  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Latin  lines  on  the  subject  have  been  thus  rendered: 

"If  you  should  bid  me  count  the  lies 
Of  Hector's  history, 
I  might  as  well  essay  to  sum 
The  stars  or  waves  of  sea."  * 

Perhaps  this  condemnation  may  be  on  the  se- 
vere side,  but  it  is  true  that  the  writing  of  history 
presented  itself  to  him  rather  as  a  branch  of 
artistic  literature  than  as  an  exact  science,  and 
that  he  "has  done  what  an  obscure  artist  has  done 
for  the  kings  of  Scotland  in  the  picture  gallery 
of  Holyrood :  he  has  given  us  portraits  and  scenes 
that  reflect  his  ovtu  imagination."  * 

We  need  not,  however,  be  unduly  apprehensive 
as  to  the  general  trustworthiness  of  Boece's  biog- 
raphy of  Bishop  Elphinstone.  The  book  in  which 
it  appears,  The  Lives  of  the  Bishops  of  Murthlac 
and  Aberdeen,  was  published  in  1522,  eight  years 
after  the  death  of  his  friend,  and  there  could  have 
been  little  temptation  for  the  author  to  draw  upon 
his  imagination  for  facts  when  his  materials  were 
so  fresh  and  so  abundant.  Here  and  there  we 
may  discern  the  touch  of  the  artist,  but  taking  it 
as  a  whole  the  narrative  seems  quite  worthy  of 
credit,  and  although  dates  are  lacking,  it  is  usually 
possible  to  supply  these  from  other  sources. 

When  Elphinstone  was  born  in  1431  the  cir- 


^  Ihid.,  p.  xiii. 

*  Studies  in  the  History  and  Development  of  the   Uni- 
versity of  Aberdeen,  p.  29. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  75 

cumstances  of  the  Scottish  Church  were  entirely 
different  from  those  which  St.  Margaret  had  known 
and  dealt  with.  Three  centuries  and  more  had 
passed  with  a  mingled  burden  of  weal  and  woe 
for  Scotland.  The  Celtic  character  of  the  Church 
had  disappeared,  with  all  its  peculiarities  of  organ- 
ization and  of  worship,  and  its  insular  independ- 
ence. Scotland  was  now,  from  the  ecclesiastical 
point  of  view,  a  province  of  the  Holy  See,  firmly 
welded  into  the  religious  confederation  of  Western 
Christendom,  and  devoted  to  the  spiritual  headship 
of  the  Pope. 

The  transition  had  been,  in  some  respects,  a 
rapid  one.  Margaret's  sons,  Alexander  I.  and 
David  I.,  had  fostered  the  ecclesiastical  develop- 
ments begun  in  their  parents'  lifetime  to  some  pur- 
pose. The  changes  which  took  place  in  the  half 
century  which  included  their  reigns  were  greater 
than  those  of  any  period  of  Scottish  Church  his- 
tory except  that  of  the  Reformation.^  Saxon  and 
I^orman  settlers  poured  into  the  country,  and  ec- 
clesiastics and  monastic  communities  were  steadily 
introduced  from  the  south.  More  important  still 
was  the  institution  of  diocesan  episcopacy  in  place 
of  the  old  tribal  system.  By  the  end  of  David's 
reign  all  save  one  of  the  thirteen  sees  that  existed 


''Dowden.    Mediaeval  Church  in  Scotland,  p.  9. 


76  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

at  the  time  of  the  Eeformation  had  been  founded 
or  restored/ 

This  assimilation  of  the  Scottish  Church  to 
that  of  England  inevitably  led  to  its  closer  con- 
nection with  the  See  of  Eome.  Disputes  with 
York  as  to  its  alleged  supremacy  over  the  Church 
in  Scotland  caused  the  latter  to  look  to  the  Pope 
for  aid,  with  the  result  that  a  papal  legate  ap- 
peared in  Scotland  for  the  first  time  during 
David's  reign.  In  the  reign  of  William  the  Lion, 
Pope  Clement  III.  took  the  Scottish  Church  under 
his  special  protection,  and  from  that  time  until 
the  Reformation  it  shared  all  the  advantages  and 
all  the  disadvantages  that  accrued  from  the  papal 
system  in  the  West. 

When  under  that  system  the  state  of  religion 
began  to  decline,  Scotland  shared  to  the  full  in 
the  general  degeneration.  The  Scottish  wars  of 
independence  which  ended  at  Bannockburn, 
wrought  much  havoc  in  the  life  of  the  Church, 
from  which  she  never  entirely  recovered.  The 
tragic  misfortunes  of  the  Stuart  dynasty  gave  oc- 
casion for  the  rise  of  a  lawless  and  turbulent  no- 
bility, which  in  the  end  was  so  largely  responsible 


®  Argyll  was  founded  fifty  years  after  David's  death. 
Galloway,  or  Candida  Casa,  was  under  English  jurisdiction, 
while  Orkney  and  the  Isles  (later  Sodor,  i.e.,  the  Southern 
Isles,  and  Man)  were  under  a  Scandinavian  Metropolitan. 
Edinburgh  was  not  the  seat  of  a  Bishop  until  the  reign  of 
Charles  I. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  77 

for  the  destructive  side  of  the  Kef ormation  in  Scot- 
land. The  growth  of  avarice  among  popes,  kings, 
and  nobles  alike,  led  to  the  constant  spoliation  of 
the  Church.  The  Papal  provisions,  by  which  the 
Popes  claimed  the  right  of  providing  the  occupants 
of  all  benefices  and  sees,  must  have  proved  a  ver- 
itable mine  of  wealth  to  the  papal  court,  for  as  a 
rule  only  a  golden  key  could  open  the  door  to  pro- 
motion. The  right  of  the  Crown  to  the  revenues 
of  vacant  sees  and  monasteries,  too  often  led  to 
the  prolongation  of  vacancies  for  years.  And  the 
system  of  pluralities,^  by  which  a  Bishop  might 
hold  several  benefices  in  his  diocese,  or  a  lesser 
dignitary  enjoy  a  canonry  in  two  or  three  differ- 
ent Cathedrals,  sorely  impaired  the  efficiency  of 
the  Church  throughout  the  country. 

Strong  and  flourishing,  therefore,  as  the  eccle- 
siastical system  into  which  Elphinstone  was  born 
might  seem,  the  canker  of  decay  was  spreading 
within.  Half  the  wealth  of  Scotland  may  have, 
as  is  alleged,  belonged  to  the  Church,  but  in  that 
fact  lay  her  greatest  danger,  and  the  greatest 
temptation  to  those  who  desired  her  overthrow. 
If  by  the  sixteenth  century  two-thirds  of  the  par- 
ish livings  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Cathedral 
chapters    and   monasteries,    this   meant   that   the 


^  Boece  declares  that  Elphinstone  never  held  any  abbacy 
or  other  ecclesiastical  dignity,  in  commendam  "ut  nunc 
plerique."  (Lives,  p.  106.)  Dowden,  Bishops  of  Scotland, 
p.  131. 


78  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

status,  and  therefore  also  the  efficiency,  of  the 
parish  clergy  was  seriously  lowered.  The  main 
portion  of  the  parish  revenues  went  to  the  non- 
resident rector,  while  the  whole  burden  of  the  care 
of  souls  rested  upon  his  substitute,  the  poorly  paid 
vicar.  Under  such  a  system  it  is  easy  to  under- 
stand how  religion  languished,  when  indolence 
and  luxury  crept  into  monastic  and  Cathedral  life, 
and  ignorance  and  laxity  reigned  among  the  parish 
clergy.  Too  many  there  were 
"Of  such,  as  for  their  bellies'  sake 
Creep  and  intrude  and  climb  into  the  fold," 

while 

"The  hungry  sheep  look  up,  and  are  not  fed, 
But  swoln  with  wind  and  the  rank  mist  they  draw 
Rot  inwardly,  and  foul  contagion  spread."  ^ 

The  circumstances  of  Elphinstone's  own  birth 
furnish  a  vivid  illustration  of  the  state  of  morality 
amongst  mediaeval  ecclesiastics.  In  a  letter  of 
Pope  Alexander  VI.  to  the  Bishop,  written  in 
1494,  we  learn  that  his  father  was  a  presbyter  and 
his  mother  an  unmarried  woman."*  The  object  of 
this  letter  was  to  secure  Elphinstone  against  any 
objection  that  might  be  raised,  on  the  ground  of 
this  defect  of  birth,  to  his  tenure  of  the  see  of 
Aberdeen,  and  it  relates  that  a  similar  precaution 
had  been  taken  by  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  in  the  case  of 


®  Milton,  Lycidas. 

^  Theiner.    Vetera  Monumenta  Hibernorum  et  Scotorum 
Historiam  illustrantia,  No.  894. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  79 

his  previous  appointment  to  the  bishopric  of  Ross. 

It  may  at  first  sight  seem  strange  that  Boece, 
who  simply  relates  that  the  future  Bishop  was 
bom  ^^in  the  famous  city  of  Glasgow,  notable  for 
its  University,  of  the  ancient  Elphinstone  fam- 
ily," '"  betrays  no  sense  of  concern  about  a  fact 
which  must  have  been  perfectly  well  known.  He 
speaks  of  the  anxiety  of  Elphinstone's  parents  as 
to  his  bodily  health  after  he  had  reached  man- 
hood," and  tells  how  they  recalled  him  from  France 
to  his  native  land  still  later."  From  such  refer- 
ences we  are  obviously  meant  to  conclude  that  dur- 
ing Elphinstone's  manhood  his  father  and  mother 
were  living  together  in  the  relations  of  ordinary 
family  life.  Nor  should  we  lightly  set  aside 
Boece's  statements  as  mere  romance,  for  it  is  clear 
that  such  connections  were  far  from  uncommon 
both  in  England  and  Scotland,  and  that,  how- 
ever irregular  they  were  from  the  strict  eccle- 
siastical point  of  view,  they  were  not  regarded  by 
the  general  community  as  disgraceful. 

The  truth  is  that  the  rule  of  celibacy  for  the 
secular,  or  non-monastic  clergy  was  a  counsel  of 
perfection,  imposed  from  without,  and  never  either 
generally  accepted  or  rigorously  enforced.  Neither 
the  thunder  of  repeated  peremptory  decrees  and 
statutes,  nor  the  penalties  and  other  disadvantages 
inflicted  by  ecclesiastical  law  could  alter  the  situa- 


'» Lives,  ut  supra,  p.  58.     "  Ibid.,  p.  60.     "  Ibid.,  p.  64. 


80  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

tion.  The  clergy  might  be  prevented  by  the 
Church  from  contracting  a  legal  marriage,  but 
many  of  them  lived,  without  incurring  public  op- 
probrium, in  decent  and  faithful  union  with 
women  who  were  their  wives  in  all  but  legal  name. 
It  is  only  fair  that  this  fact  should  be  recognized 
before  we  pass  judgment  on  the  morals  of  the 
Mediaeval  Church.  Without  seeking  to  defend 
the  irregularity  of  such  connections  as  have  been 
described,  or  to  lower  our  ideals  of  morality,  we 
may  well  admit  that  under  circumstances  so  differ- 
ent from  those  of  our  day,  different  standards  of 
conduct  might  be  held  with  a  good  conscience,  and 
that  a  certain  amount  of  the  so-called  immorality 
of  the  Pre-Keformation  clergy  comes  within  the 
scope  of  this  consideration.  It  is  not,  of  course,  to 
be  denied  that  vice  and  immorality  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  word  were  found  among  the  clergy, 
or  that  the  lives  of  many  of  the  Church's  leaders 
were  a  disgrace  to  Christianity. 

The  father  of  the  future  Bishop  of  Aberdeen 
is  believed  to  have  been  William  Elphinstone,  men- 
tioned as  one  of  the  Canons  of  Glasgow  Cathedral 
in  1451.  He  seems  also  to  have  been  Dean  of  the 
Faculty  of  Arts,  and  afterwards  Archdeacon  of 
Teviotdale,  as  well  as  rector  of  Kirkmichael." 
The  family  of  Elphinstone  is  of  Saxon  origin,  and 


^*  See  Prof.  Cowan  in  Aberdeen  Quater centenary  Studies. 
No.  19,  pp.  1  and  2.     Dowden,  Bishops  of  Scotland,  p.  130. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  81 

can  be  traced  in  Scotland  from  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  Bishop's  grandfather 
was  a  landed  proprietor  in  Stirlingshire. 

Elphinstone's  early  days  were  spent  in  Glas- 
gow, which  was  then  a  quiet  and  beautiful  little 
town,  nestling  round  the  Cathedral  on  the  hill, 
beside  the  clear  waters  of  the  Clyde.  According 
to  his  biographer,  he  shewed  from  childhood  a 
special  devotion  to  Our  Lady.  When  scarcely 
four  years  old  he  strayed  from  home,  and  after 
a  long  search  was  found  in  the  inner  shrine  of  the 
Cathedral  kneeling  (prostratus)  before  the  image 
of  the  Holy  Virgin.  It  was  only  with  difficulty, 
and  to  the  accompaniment  of  tears  and  childish 
cries,  that  he  could  be  removed  and  taken  home." 
Later  in  his  boyhood  he  had  a  dream  which  made 
a  great  impression  on  his  mind.  He  thought  that 
he  was  kneeling  before  the  Virgin's  image,  as  he 
often  did  when  awake,  and  praying  earnestly  that 
she  would  keep  him  from  falling  into  grievous  sin, 
when  she  replied:  "Apply  thyself  wholly  to  vir- 
tue, and  when  thou  hast  attained  to  the  bishopric 
which  I  shall  give  thee,  be  zealous  for  Christ's 
religion  by  restoring  my  churches."  On  awaken- 
ing he  told  what  had  happened  to  his  tutor,  who 
like  a  wise  man  bade  him  say  nothing  about  it, 
apply  himself  to  virtue,  and  not  put  his  trust  in 
dreams.^'' 


'  Lives,  p.  58.        ^^  p.  59. 


82  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

At  the  age  of  seven  he  commenced  his  studies, 
whether  at  school  or  under  private  tuition,  Boece's 
luxurious  Latin  periods  do  not  clearly  specify. 
His  application  to  his  lessons  seemed  to  his  teach- 
ers beyond  his  years,  and  all  who  came  in  contact 
with  him  were  charmed  with  his  manners  and  dis- 
position, as  well  as  his  rare  beauty.  He  was  such 
a  favourite  with  the  Bishop  of  Glasgow  that  the 
prelate  could  not  enjoy  his  evening  meal  until  he 
had  sent  for  William  and  heard  him  recite  poetry 
or  something  else  which  he  had  learnt. 

Thus  the  boy  grew  to  manhood  in  an  eccle- 
siastical atmosphere,  following  the  usual  courses 
of  study  which  were  afforded  by  a  mediaeval 
Cathedral.  He  spent  his  early  years,  Boece  in- 
forms us,  in  literary  studies  hardly  worthy  of  his 
genius,  but  the  foundation  of  the  University  of 
Glasgow  in  1451  by  Bishop  TurnbuU  opened  the 
door  to  new  opportunities  for  the  eager  student. 
His  name  stands  eleventh  in  the  roll  of  entrants,^* 
and  we  are  told  that  he  soon  surpassed  all  his  fel- 
lows in  the  study  of  logic  and  physics.  In  his 
twenty-fifth  year  he  became  Master  of  Arts  and 
was  ordained  to  the  priesthood.  Owing,  however, 
to  his  parents'  anxiety  about  his  health  he  did  not 
enter  upon  parochial  work,  but  for  some  years  took 
charge  of  his  father's  estate.  In  this  capacity  he 
shewed  that  a  studious  life  had  not  unfitted  him 


^*  Cowan,  ut  supra,  p.  3. 


Q 

« 

M 

1^ 

Oh 

W  ' 

m  ' 
o 

o 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  83 

for  the  management  of  affairs,  for  his  clearheaded- 
ness and  ability  were  no  less  clearly  displayed  than 
his  power  of  winning  the  good  will  of  those  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact. 

Domestic  affairs,  however,  after  a  time  ceased 
to  interest  the  mind  of  the  young  cleric,  and  he 
returned  to  Glasgow  as  a  student  of  Canon  Law, 
that  vast  and  complicated  legal  code  which  gov- 
erned the  life  of  the  Western  Church.  This  was 
a  study  which  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  ap- 
pealed to  the  ablest  of  Scottish  ecclesiastics,  both 
on  account  of  its  practical  importance  and  because 
of  the  remunerative  career  which  it  opened  up. 
That  Elphinstone's  ambition,  however,  was  no 
sordid  one  became  apparent  when,  after  several 
years  of  study,  he  commenced  practice  in  the  law 
courts.  "He  never  was  connected  with  any  one's 
hurt,  was  a  most  severe  censor  of  injustice,  and 
patron  of  justice.  So  earnest  was  he  in  the  cause 
of  the  poor,  that  he  might  be  said  to  plead  their 
cause,  not  for  a  fee,  but  for  the  sake  of  equity  and 
justice.  The  result  was  that  he  gained  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  advocate  of  the  poor  and  miser- 
able."" 

It  would  seem,  however,  that  this  life  did  not 
prove  a  satisfactory  one  either  to  Elphinstone's 
friends  or  to  himself,  and  he  retired  to  the  country 
about  1459-60.     For  four  years  he  discharged  the 


"  Boece.    Lives,  p.  61. 


84  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

pastoral  duties  of  the  parish  of  Kirkmichael, 
filling  up  his  spare  time  with  ceaseless  study. 
"In  this  retreat  he  was  never  idle,  never  sluggish. 
'No  hour,  no  moment  passed  in  which  he  was  not 
writing,  or  dictating,  or  making  extracts.  Lit- 
erary studies  and  the  repetition  of  the  hour-offices 
of  the  Breviary  day  and  night  filled  up  the  rest 
of  his  time.  The  routine  of  his  life  was  such  as 
every  private  Christian  should  observe:  reading 
succeeding  prayer,  and  prayer  reading,  in  un- 
broken sequence."  '^ 

If  Elphinstone  was  persuaded  to  enter  upon 
this  quiet  life  by  the  persuasion  of  some  of  his 
friends,  it  was  by  the  benevolent  interference  of 
another  friend  that  he  left  it.  His  uncle,  Lau- 
rence Elphinstone,  a  burgess,  it  may  be,  of  Edin- 
burgh," and  a  man  of  substance,  felt  that  his  bril- 
liant nephew  was  hiding  his  light  under  a  bushel, 
and  set  himself  energetically  to  remove  him  to 
a  sphere  where  his  talents  might  find  adequate 
scope.  Sending  for  Elphinstone  to  Glasgow,  this 
worthy  man  soundly  rated  him  for  neglecting  to 
cultivate  his  eminent  talents  for  the  honour  and 
profit  of  his  house,  and  ended  by  offering  to  defray 
liberally  all  the  expenses  of  a  period  of  residence 
abroad.  The  result  of  this  word  in  season  was 
Elphinstone's  departure  for  Paris  about  1463-4 
in  order  to  continue  his  studies  in  Canon  Law. 


"  Boece.    Lives,  p.  62.     ^®  Cowan,  ut  supra,  p.  3,  note  7. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  85 

Like  many  another  Scottish  student  abroad 
before  and  since  his  time,  William  soon  became 
known  as  one  who  burned  the  midnight  oil.  He 
took  but  a  minimum  of  sleep  and  of  food,  spend- 
ing his  days  listening  to  great  orators  and  lec- 
turers, and  his  nights  reciting  what  he  had  heard. 
His  industry  was  rewarded  by  an  important  ap- 
pointment as  ^^first  reader  in  Canon  Law,"  which 
he  held  for  six  years,  crowded  audiences  attending 
his  lectures.  On  taking  his  degree  in  the  Sacred 
Decretals,  he  removed  for  still  more  advanced 
study  to  the  University  of  Orleans,  where  there 
were  teachers  of  great  reputation.  There  his  own 
reputation  as  an  exponent  of  ecclesiastical  law 
began  to  be  so  great  that  the  Parliament  of  Paris 
more  than  once  sought  his  advice  in  connection 
with  important  decisions.""  Among  many  friends 
whom  he  made  in  France,  the  chief  was  John 
de  Gana,  a  great  legal  luminary,  who  became 
Chancellor  of  France  under  Louis  XII. 

Recalled  home  by  his  parents  after  an  absence 
of  eight  years,  Elphinstone  found  that  his  reputa- 
tion had  preceded  him.  The  Bishop  of  Glasgow 
welcomed  him  warmly,  and  soon  appointed  him 
Official  of  the  diocese,  on  account  of  his  great 
learning,  his  clear  intellect,  and  his  powerful  elo- 
quence. This  office  was  one  of  great  dignity,  and 
carried  with  it  a  seat  in  Parliament.     The  con- 


'Boece,  p.  64. 


86  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

sistorial  court  over  which  the  Official  presided 
dealt  with  a  large  and  varied  range  of  legal  busi- 
ness/' All  matrimonial  suits,  and  questions  con- 
cerning wills  and  inheritance  were  decided  at  this 
tribunal,  as  well  as  cases  of  slander,  and  of  cer- 
tain kinds  of  contract.  Disputes  as  to  Church 
patronage  and  the  like  naturally  also  came  under 
the  Official's  jurisdiction,  as  well  as  cases  of  as- 
saults on  ecclesiastical  persons,  and  assaults  and 
brawling  in  sacred  places."  In  the  discharge  of 
his  duties  as  a  judge,  Elphinstone  shewed  the 
same  passion  for  strict  justice  as  when  he  was  an 
advocate.  He  observed  strict  impartiality,  restrain- 
ing litigants  from  calumnious  charges,  and  never 
sparing  extortioners  or  perverters  of  the  law.  The 
maxim  was  often  on  his  lips,  ^^He  hurts  the  good 
who  spares  the  bad."  " 

Elphinstone  was  now  in  the  prime  of  life,  and 
worldly  honours  began  to  crowd  upon  him.  In 
1474  he  was  elected  rector  of  the  University  of 
Glasgow,""*  and  soon  afterwards  he  was  promoted 
to  the  very  important  post  of  Official  of  Lothian 


^^  "At  that  time  the  Church  courts,  besides  the  load  of 
properly  consistorial  cases,  monopolized  a  great  part  of 
civil  business.  They  were,  in  truth,  the  only  settled  and 
organized  judicatures  in  Scotland,  and  were  alone  presided 
over  by  educated  lawyers."  (Innes,  Sketches  of  Early 
Scotch  History,  p.  263.) 

^*  Dowden.    Mediaeval  Church  in  Scotland,  p.  287. 

2^  Boece.    Lives,  p.  65.        ^^  Cowan,  ut  supra,  p.  4. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  87 

in  the  diocese  of  St.  Andrews/'  Taking  up  his 
residence  in  Edinburgh,  he  was  at  once  in  close 
touch  with  the  court  of  King  James  III.  In 
Parliament  he  was  chosen  to  serve  on  its  judicial 
committees,  which  formed  the  supreme  civil  juris- 
diction in  Scotland.'^  The  king  made  him  a  privy 
councillor,  and  about  1479  appointed  him  to  serve 
on  an  embassy  charged  with  a  delicate  mission  to 
Louis  XI.  of  France.  In  this  aflPair  he  gained  the 
good  will  of  Louis  and  the  approval  of  his  own 
king."  His  success  led  to  similar  appointments 
which  need  not  be  detailed.  James  IV.,  in  a  char- 
ter of  1489,  makes  suitable  acknowledgment  of 
^^all  his  faithful  and  gratuitous  service,  and  great 
labours  and  heavy  expenses  incurred  at  divers 
times  in  missions  to  the  kings  and  kingdoms  of 
France  and  England,  the  dukes  of  Burgundy  and 
Austria,  and  to  other  foreign  parts,  and  in  our 
service  within  our  commonwealth  and  the  peace 
thereof."  " 

As  a  reward  for  the  result  of  his  mission  to 
France,  Elphinstone  was  appointed  Bishop  of 
Eoss  in  1481.     According  to  Boece,  he  refused 


^'^Then  probably  the  second  judicial  office  in  the  King- 
dom.    (Innes,  Sketches,  p.  263.) 

=^«  Ibid. 

"Boece  professes  to  report  the  actual  words  of  Elphin- 
stone's  speech  to  Louis,  but  in  all  probability  it  was  com- 
posed by  the  worthy  Principal  himself,     p.  66. 

^^ Records  of  Old  Aberdeen,  I,  p.  6.  (New  Spalding 
Club.) 


88  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

the  offer  with  a  reference  to  his  boyish  dream: 
^^Ross/'  he  said,  ^^is  not  to  be  my  see,  but  where 
the  Mother  of  God  is  patron  or  guardian  saint." 
The  statement,  however,  is  not  accurate  as  regards 
an  actual  refusal,  for  Elphinstone  was  legally 
Bishop  of  Ross  for  nearly  two  years.  He  was 
certainly,  however,  never  consecrated  as  Bishop 
of  Boss,  and  this  fact  may  lie  at  the  bottom  of 
Boece's  story.  His  desire  was  granted  when,  in 
1483  he  was  "provided"  by  the  Pope  to  the  bishop- 
ric of  Aberdeen,  the  Cathedral  of  which  was 
dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  St.  Machar.'" 
At  this  period,  however,  Elphinstone's  opportuni- 
ties for  attending  to  the  proper  duties  of  a  Bishop 
must  have  been  small  indeed,  for  matters  of  state 
now  claimed  his  best  attention.  As  a  member  of 
the  king's  privy  council  he  was  brought  into  close 
contact  with  his  unwise  and  unfortunate  monarch, 
whose  affairs  sorely  needed  the  guidance  of  a  good 
and  wise  man.  Elphinstone's  influence  over  James 
was,  if  his  biographer  may  be  trusted,  very  great.^*' 

^^  St.  Machar,  also  known  as  Mochonna  and  Dochonna, 
was,  according  to  ancient  tradition,  a  disciple  of  St.  Colum- 
ba,  and  founder  of  the  Church  at  Aberdeen.  According  to 
Columba's  behest,  the  site  of  the  church  was  chosen  on  the 
spot  where  the  river  Don  in  its  windings  forms  the  shape  of 
a  Bishop's  crook.  "Uhi  flumen,  praesulis  inMar  haculi,  intrat 
mare."    (Colgan,  Trias,  Thau.  Aberdeen  Breviary,  12th  Nov.) 

^®"It  will  not  lessen  the  good  Bishop  in  our  eyes,  if  we 
abate  something  of  the  influence  which  Boece  attributes  to 
him  in  the  councils  of  the  weak  and  unfortunate  James  III." 
(Innes,  p.  264.) 


ST.  MACIIARS  CATHEDRAL,  ABERDEEN 


SCOTTISH  CHUBGH  HISTORY  89 

"All  his  majesty's  most  important  affairs  were  car- 
ried out  under  the  Bishop's  direction  and  as  he 
suggested.  As  he  was  thus  admitted  to  greater 
familiarity  with  the  king,  he  advised  him  to  aban- 
don his  licentious  and  rapacious  habits,  for  these 
were  the  vices  most  fatal  to  kings.  He  exhorted 
him  to  restrain  the  violence  of  the  caterans,  who 
wasted  and  overran  the  country.  .  .  .  3e  asked 
him  to  remember  that  his  kingly  splendour  was 
sufficiently  maintained  by  his  having  as  his  con- 
sort Margaret,  a  lady  of  the  chastest  life,  of  royal 
lineage,  and  the  mother  of  his  three  sons."  ^' 

James  took  in  good  part  this  plain  speaking 
by  his  faithful  servant,  and,  as  we  are  told,  "de- 
voted himself  more  than  formerly  to  religion,"  as 
far  at  least  as  its  externals  were  concerned.  When- 
ever he  saw  an  image  of  Christ  or  of  the  Virgin 
Mother  of  God  in  church,  market  place,  or  street, 
he  would  bare  his  head  and  pray  for  his  own  and 
his  kingdom's  welfare.  Large  sums  too  he  be- 
stowed on  the  poor  and  on  the  clergy,  and  on  the 
adornment  of  churches  throughout  the  country. 
On  one  occasion  James  was  on  a  pilgrimage,  with 
the  Pope's  legate  in  his  company,  when  he  met  a 
nobleman  who  had  been  condemned  for  murder 
going  to  execution.  The  unfortunate  man  seiz- 
ing his  opportunity,  threw  himself  at  James's 
feet  and  implored  for  mercy  on  the  ground  that 


^^  Lives,  p.  75. 


90  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

his  crime  had  been  an  involuntary  one.  The  king 
turned  to  the  legate  and  asked  for  his  advice. 
"Let  justice  be  carried  out,"  was  the  unfeeling 
reply.  James  next  addressed  Elphinstone,  whose 
countenance  shewed  his  disapproval  of  the  legate's 
sentence.  "Is  this  the  compassion  of  Italian 
Churchmen?  You  used  to  give  me  far  different 
advice."  The  Bishop's  answer  was,  "Let  mercy 
prevail,"  and  so  the  criminal  was  discharged. 

Had  James's  advisers  been  always  of  the 
stamp  of  Elphinstone,  his  fate  might  have  been 
very  different.  But  the  Bishop's  influence  did  not 
find  full  scope  until  too  late.  He  was  appointed 
Chancellor  of  the  Kingdom  only  a  short  time  be- 
fore the  lamentable  affair  of  Sauchieburn  in  1488, 
and  all  that  he  could  do  in  the  interests  of  peace 
and  of  loyalty  was  in  vain.  Soon  the  country  was 
embroiled  in  civil  war,  with  the  king's  own  son 
in  the  ranks  of  the  insurgents.  Elphinstone  left 
nothing  untried  that  a  good  and  wise  man  could 
do."  Up  to  the  last  he  laboured  to  negotiate  a 
compromise  between  the  two  parties,''  but  without 
avail.  James  perished  ingloriously  by  an  assas- 
sin's dagger  after  fleeing  from  the  field  of  battle, 
and  the  Bishop's  career  as  a  statesman  came,  for 
the  time  being,  to  a  sudden  end. 

At  Aberdeen,  however,  there  was  work  in 
plenty  for  Elphinstone  to  do.     The  clergy  needed 

^^  Lives,  p.  79. 

^'  Hume  Brown.   History  of  Scotland,  I,  286. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  91 

to  be  reformed,  and  the  performance  of  the  ser- 
vices had  fallen  into  neglect  for  some  years/* 
Under  the  Bishop's  firm  hand  this  state  of  affairs 
was  soon  remedied.  The  ancient  style  of  chant- 
ing was  restored  by  his  orders,  and  the  conduct  of 
the  sacred  rites  in  the  Cathedral  was  put  under 
the  care  of  John  Malison,  '^sl  man  deeply  skilled 
in  music  and  of  approved  moral  character,"  to 
whose  efforts,  Boece  informs  us,  was  justly 
ascribed  whatever  musical  skill  belonged  to  Aber- 
deen, whatever  proficiency  in  chanting  the  north- 
ern Church  possessed." 

An  interesting  document,  printed  in  the  Begis- 
trum  Episcopatus  Aherdonensis,  which  contains 
Elphinstone's  regulations  for  the  office  of  Cathe- 
dral sacrist,  may  be  referred  to  here  as  illustrat- 
ing the  Bishop's  methods  of  reform.  Whether  it 
belongs  to  this  or  to  a  later  stage  of  his  episcopate, 
it  gives  a  vivid  account  of  the  daily  Cathedral 
routine,  and  at  the  same  time  illustrates  the  ex- 
cellent prelate's  capacity  for  attending  to  the 
smallest  details.  The  document  has  a  colloquial 
air  about  it,  with  its  phonetically  spelt  Latin 
words,  and  its  frequent  faults  in  concord,  suggest- 


2*  Lives,  p.  79. 

^^  "The  Aberdeen  Sang  Schule,  one  of  the  earliest  in  Scot- 
land, was  founded  in  1370."  "Aberdeen  has  been  remark- 
able at  various  periods  of  its  history  for  special  attention 
given  by  the  Church  to  the  service  of  praise."  See  Cowan, 
ut  supra,  p.  8. 


92  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

ing  the  picture  of  a  busy  Bishop  dictating,  and  a 
nervous  scribe  in  a  hurry/'' 

Every  day  the  whole  year  through,  in  winter 
as  well  as  in  summer,  on  ordinary  (ferial)  days 
and  festivals  alike — so  the  regulations  run — the 
sacristan  is  to  ring  the  bells  in  the  accustomed 
manner,  beginning  at  five  a.  m.  and  ringing  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour.  At  five-thirty  he  rings  again, 
and  at  six,  when  the  first  of  the  canonical  hour 
services  begin.  The  choir  vicars  having  as- 
sembled "  with  the  beadle  in  their  robes,  say  the 
office  of  Matins,  beginning  and  ending  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord.  Then  the  sacrist  rings  for  another 
quarter  of  an  hour,  on  the  little  bell  (humili  cam- 
pana),  this  time  for  the  singing  of  prime,  and 
again  after  prime  for  the  Mass  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary.  From  nine  to  ten  a  big  bell  is  rung 
as  before  Matins,  and  at  the  latter  hour  High  Mass 
is  said.  From  three  o'clock  till  four  p.  m.  the 
large  bells  are  rung  as  before  for  Vespers  when 
the  Canons  are  responsible  for  the  office,  and  lastly 
at  eight  p.  m.  the  little  bell  is  tolled  for  a  quarter 


"Vol.  II,  p.  102.  The  "Register"  is  published  by  the 
Spalding  Club. 

"All  the  clerics  on  duty  for  the  week  had  to  be  in  the 
choir  before  the  end  of  the  second  ringing,  and  in  their 
stalls  by  the  final  one,  under  pain  of  various  fines,  ranging 
from  8d.  to  a  penny.  The  others  had  to  be  in  their  places 
before  the  end  of  the  Venite  at  Mattins  and  before  the  last 
Kyrie  Eleeison  at  Mass.     {Reg.  Ah.  II,  p.  106.) 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  93 

of  an  hour,  on  behalf  of  the  souls  of  all  the  faith- 
ful departed. 

Into  the  minutiae  of  these  rules  for  bell-ring- 
ing we  need  not  enter,  but  when  we  read  that  the 
sacrist,  who  was  in  priest's  orders,  was  also  ex- 
pected to  be  present,  robed  in  a  long  cassock  and 
a  surplice,  at  Matins,  Mass,  and  Vespers,  and  to 
minister  at  the  high  altar  and  in  the  choir  what- 
ever was  fitting  and  necessary,  it  is  clear  that  he 
must  have  been  assisted  by  deputies.  This  be- 
comes clearer  still  when  we  scan  the  list  of  his 
duties  further. 

He  had  to  wind  up  the  clock  and  regulate  it, 
to  take  care  of  the  altar  hangings,  the  choir  books, 
and  all  other  articles  in  the  Cathedral,  and  after 
the  services  to  fold  the  vestments  tidily  and  put 
them  away  in  their  appointed  places.  Every 
Saturday  he  had  to  clean  the  church,  the  choir, 
and  the  chapter  house  from  all  rubbish,  dust,  and 
dirt,  and  to  wash  the  pavement  with  besom  and 
water.  Four  times  a  year  he  cleaned  the  win- 
dows on  both  sides,  and  removed  from  the  walls, 
the  images,  and  the  base  of  the  sacred  cross  all 
dust,  cobwebs,  and  other  disfigurements. 

The  cemetery  too,  had  to  be  kept  clear  of  pigs, 
horses,  and  cattle  by  the  construction  of  sunk 
fences,  and  a  sharp  eye  was  to  be  kept  on  pedlars, 
lest  sales  or  marketings  be  made  in  church  or 
in  cemetery,  "whether  on  festivals  or  ordinary 
days,  and  whether  of  eatables  or  not.''     Moreover, 


94  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

he  had  to  prevent  the  entrance  of  pigeons,  bats/' 
crows,  and  swallows,  to  keep  and  clean  the  roofs 
and  rain-pipes  of  the  whole  building,  and  pull  out 
all  weeds  growing  in  walls  and  windows,  lest  rain- 
water enter.  Every  day  fresh  water  was  to  be 
provided  when  necessary  for  Mass,  holy  wa- 
ter, baptismal  font,  and  the  washing  of  the 
hands  of  the  ministers  and  celebrants,  as  well  as 
fire  for  kindling  the  candles,  and  the  censers  when 
needed  at  the  high  altar.  The  lamp  before  the 
venerable  Sacrament  was  to  be  kept  burning  day 
and  night,  lit  with  oil  and  a  floating  wick.  He 
was  to  light  the  candles  upon  and  before  the  high 
altar,  and  in  front  of  the  images,  and  in  the  hang- 
ing candelabra  of  the  choir,  as  well  as  the  bronze 
lamps  for  Matins  and  Vespers  in  winter  time. 
On  appropriate  occasions  he  was  to  hang  up  the 
arras-cloths  in  the  choir  and  at  the  high  altar  and 
the  Bishop's  Seat,  both  in  the  choir  and  in  the  chap- 
ter house,  and  on  the  regular  days  to  open  the 
shrines  where  it  had  been  necessary  to  shut  them, 
and  to  open  them  both  in  Lent  and  at  other  times. 
When  processions  were  made  he  had  to  marshall 
the  choir  and  precede  it,  indicating  with  a  rod  car- 
ried in  his  hand,  as  the  ritual  books  direct,  the  way 
through  church  or  cemetery.  On  the  Rogation 
days  he  had,  among  other  things,  to  provide  the 
feretory  or  wooden  tray  for  the  relics,  which  the 


^^Nodulorum,    The  Italians  say  nottola  for  bat. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  95 

deacons  carried  on  their  shoulders,  and  to  see  to 
the  hanging  of  the  seal  of  the  indulgences.  Pass- 
ing over  a  number  of  the  minor  additional  duties  of 
this  hard-worked  sacrist,  we  find  him  charged  with 
the  task  of  seeing  that  the  sacred  vessels  were  not 
carried  about  outside  the  choir  by  unordained  per- 
sons such  as  young  laymen  or  scholars,  and  of  not- 
ing in  a  list  the  names  of  those  vicars  of  the  choir 
who  failed  to  celebrate  the  private  Masses  pre- 
scribed by  the  foundation  of  their  office.  Every 
Saturday,  moreover,  he  had  to  subject  himself  to 
the  ^^taxation  of  faults"  along  with  the  choir  vicars. 
This  took  place  at  the  weekly  chapter,  where  fines 
and  other  punishments  were  infiicted  for  neglect 
in  the  performance  of  Church  duties.*""  His  salary 
amounted  to  ten  pounds  a  year,  together  with 
"extras"  amounting  to  a  few  pounds  more,***  and 
his  share  of  the  common  allowance  for  the  support 
of  the  chaplains. 

One  is  tempted  to  linger  over  these  old  records, 
for  they  afford  many  quaint  and  interesting 
glimpses  into  Cathedral  life  in  these  bygone  days. 
For  instance,  we  have  a  list  of  the  Church  plate, 
jewels,  and  other  valuables,  made  at  a  "visitation 
of  the  treasures"  by  Elphinstone  and  his  chapter 


^^  Dowden,  ut  supra,  p.  84. 

*°For  instance,  he  received  6s.  Sd.  for  keeping  out  the 
birds,  2s.  for  ringing  the  bells  for  each  dead  person,  6d.  from 
each  Canon  celebrating  on  his  accustomed  day,  and  6s.  Sd. 
from  each  Canon  on  being  instituted  in  Chapter. 


96  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

in  the  year  1496,  the  interest  of  which  is  more 
than  merely  antiquarian/'  We  appreciate  the 
thoroughgoing  nature  of  the  Bishop's  inspection 
as  we  read  the  notes  appended  to  the  inventory. 
Of  the  fourteen  silver  chalices — ten  of  them  gilt — 
which  should  be  there,  five  are  stolen,  while  the 
cross  hitherto  supposed  to  contain  part  of  the  cross 
of  St.  Andrew  is  found  to  have  lost  the  precious 
relic."  Other  loss  and  damage  is  recorded  with 
similar  care.  Three  pearls  have  disappeared  from 
a  golden  monile,  called  "in  the  common  tongue  a 
brooch,"  a  silver  ampulla  has  lost  its  stopper,  two 
pieces  have  been  broken  off  two  crowns  of  gilded 
silver  for  Christ  and  our  Lady,  and  so  on  down 
the  list. 

We  cannot  here  dwell  upon  the  varied  items 
of  Cathedral  property  in  the  shape  of  crosses, 
rings,  censers,  mitres,  episcopal  gloves,  buskins 
and  staves,  vessels,  ornaments  and  furniture  of 
various  kinds,  but  the  list  of  relics  may  be  detailed 
in  order  to  illustrate  a  prominent  feature  of  me- 
diaeval Church  life.  Besides  the  despoiled  relic 
of  St.  Andrew,  there  was  a  silver  cross  containing 
a  piece  of  our  Lord's  cross,  and  an  arm  of  St. 
Fergus  in  silver,  with  his  bones.  Two  brass 
reliquaries  contained  the  bulk  of  the  sacred  relics. 
In  one  were  the  bones  of  St.  Katherine,  St. 
Helene,  St.  Margaret,  Isaac  the  patriarch,  and  St. 

^^Registrum  Ah.,  II,  166. 

*^  Deperditur  lignum,  is  the  laconic  entry. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  97 

Duthac.  In  the  other  were  the  garments  of 
Blessed  Mary  the  Virgin,  the  bones  of  Peter  and 
Paul,  and  those  of  St.  Brigid,  with  the  dust  of 
St.  Edmund  the  Archbishop. 

Was  it  a  premonition  of  evil  days  to  come,  one 
wonders,  or  merely  a  knowledge  of  the  sacrilegious 
possibilities  of  his  own  days  which  caused  an 
earlier  Bishop  of  Aberdeen  to  have  the  following 
significant  legend  inscribed  upon  two  silver  wash- 
ing-basins which  he  had  presented?  "Henry,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  etc.,  caused  me  to  be  made  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1433,  and  whosoever  shall  alien- 
ate us  from  your  altar  and  from  our  Lady,  may 
he  be  an  alien  from  the  Kingdom  of  God."  Pa- 
thetic too  in  the  light  of  the  coming  reformation 
of  religion  is  the  reading  of  an  entry  dated  1499."* 
In  that  year  a  pieta,  or  image  of  our  Lady  em- 
bracing the  dead  body  of  her  Son,  weighing  120 
ounces  of  silver  and  more,  was  given  by  Andrew 
Lyell,  treasurer  of  Aberdeen,  and  offered  at  the 
high  altar  on  the  feast  of  the  Visitation.  There- 
upon Bishop  Elphinstone  ordained  that  the  image 
should  be  carried  reverently  round  the  Cathedral 
on  all  the  accustomed  festivals  of  the  glorious 
Virgin,  and  that  an  indulgence  of  forty  days 
should  endure  for  all  time  coming  to  all  who 
should  walk  in  procession  on  the  aforesaid  days, 

"II,  170. 


98  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

or  who  should  follow  the  same  with  devotion  at 
these  times. 

Before  we  return  to  trace  Elphinstone's  per- 
sonal career,  it  may  be  useful  to  make  a  brief 
survey  of  the  organization  and  general  arrange- 
ments of  the  Cathedral  of  Aberdeen  in  his  time/* 
Like  the  great  majority  of  the  Scottish  Cathedrals 
this  was  a  secular  foundation.  Each  of  its  canons, 
that  is  to  say,  possessed  his  separate  prebend,  or 
provision  for  maintenance,  and  dwelt  in  a  sep- 
arate house,  instead  of  living  in  a  community, 
obeying  a  ^^religious"  rule,  and  being  provided 
for  out  of  the  common  funds  as  in  the  monastic 
Cathedrals.  The  canons'  residences,  each  consist- 
ing of  toft,  croft,  and  manse,  were  situated  within 
the  Cathedral  close,  and  had  to  be  kept  in  repair 
by  the  occupants.  These  dwellings  were,  to  use 
a  modern  term,  "furnished  houses,"  as  various 
lists  of  the  articles  handed  on  from  one  resident 
to  his  successor  testify.  There  had  to  be  a  good 
table  on  trestles,  a  basin  and  ewer,  towels,  one 
silver  spoon,  a  drinking  cup  or  goblet,  with  a  lid. 
In  the  bedroom  were  a  bed,  a  tester,  a  pair  of  linen 
sheets,  and  two  blankets.  In  the  kitchen  there 
were  a  brass  pot,  the  chain  called  the  hetilcruke, 


**The  following  particulars  are  taken  from  the  valuable 
work  of  the  late  Dr.  Dowden,  Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  entitled 
The  Mediaeval  Church  in  Scotland.  This  book,  exhibiting 
all  the  author's  well-known  accuracy  and  thoroughness,  was 
published  after  his  death  by  Maclehose  of  Glasgow,  in  1910. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  99 

a  pestle  and  mortar,  and  a  variety  of  dishes.  The 
clergy  evidently  brewed  their  own  beer,  for  every 
house  had  its  hrasina  with  its  furniture  in  vats, 
barrels,  etc.,  while  the  apparatus  for  brewing  is 
specified  with  considerable  particularity.*'' 

The  chapter  of  canons  formed  a  corporation 
holding  property  for  the  common  good.  Each 
member  had  his  share  in  this  common  fund,  as 
well  as  his  separate  prebend  or  allowance  for  main- 
tenance, derived  commonly  from  the  revenues  of 
some  parish  church.  The  vicar  to  whom  the 
spiritual  care  of  such  churches  was  entrusted, 
drew  only  a  proportion  of  the  income,  and  the 
remainder  went  to  the  canon  who  was  rector  of 
the  parish.  This  custom,  as  we  have  seen,  ad- 
mitted of  much  abuse,  and  contributed  greatly  to 
the  degradation  of  religion.  Sometimes  the  preb- 
ends were  derived  from  other  sources,  such  as  a 
pension  paid  by  the  Abbot  of  Deer,  or  the  tithe 
of  the  fishery  of  Balgownie.*** 

The  dignitaries  of  the  chapter  were  the  Dean, 
in  whose  hands  lay  the  administration  and  disci- 
pline of  the  Cathedral,  the  cantor  or  Precentor, 
who  regulated  all  musical  affairs,  the  Chancellor, 
who  as  clerk  of  the  chapter,  custodian  of  the  chap- 
ter seal  and  the  library,  and  controller  of  the 
grammar  school,  had  important  duties  to  perform, 
and  the  Treasurer,  who  kept  the  vessels,  vestments, 


« Ibid.,  p.  94.        "  lUd,,  p. 


100  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

relics,  and  other  treasures  of  the  church.  When 
sitting  in  choir  they  occupied  the  four  terminal 
stalls,  possibly  for  the  better  oversight  of  the 
clergy  and  choir-boys  during  the  services.  At 
Aberdeen  the  bishop  was  a  canon  himself  and 
in  choir  he  occupied  one  of  the  canons'  stalls,*' 
next  to  that  of  the  Archdeacon. 

In  Elphinstone's  time  there  were  twenty-nine 
canons  at  Aberdeen,  but  the  growing  habit  of  non- 
residence,  against  which  successive  statutes  were 
apparently  of  no  avail,  must  have  caused  many 
of  their  stalls,  as  a  rule,  to  be  empty.  This  evil 
was  a  common  feature  in  Cathedrals  everywhere, 
for  many  pluralist  canons  found  it  more  profit- 
able to  draw  their  incomes  and  to  pay  their  fines 
for  absence,  than  to  reside  in  the  Cathedral  city 
and  attend  to  their  proper  duties. 

Each  canon,  present  or  absent,  had  to  provide 
a  deputy,  called  a  vicar  of  the  choir,  to  take  part 
in  the  Cathedral  services.  For  these  there  was 
no  non-residence,  and  they  naturally  played  an 
important  part  in  the  daily  routine  of  the  church. 
In  Elphinstone's  time  there  were  twenty  priest 
vicars,  two  deacons,  and  two  sub-deacons,  and  one 
of  the  good  Bishop's  works  was  to  raise  their  status 
by  regularizing  their  stipends,  and  giving  the 
priests  fixity  of  tenure,  and  formal  institution  by 
placing  a  ring  upon  their  finger."     Each  vicar 


'Ibid,,  p.  80.  *«pp.  69  and  70. 


SCOTTISH  CHUROit  HiSTOT^     >    •    i  '   ^^^ 

had  to  be  provided  by  bis  Canon  with  a  surplice, 
a  cope  of  coarse  black  clotb/*  and  an  almnce  or 
cape  of  black  fur.  The  latter,  which  was  no  need- 
less protection  in  an  unwarmed  Cathedral  on  a 
cold  winter's  day,  is  the  ancestor  of  the  black 
scarf,  the  use  of  which  has  been  so  largely  and  so 
rightly  revived  in  recent  years. 

As  the  singing  of  the  services  devolved  mainly 
upon  the  vicars,  much  care  was  taken  as  to  their 
musical  efficiency.  At  Aberdeen  they  had  to  be 
skilled  ^^at  least  in  Gregorian  song,"  a  phrase 
which  points  to  the  existence  of  Church  music 
arranged  in  harmony  for  different  voices.  Apart 
from  them  the  choir  consisted,  according  to  El- 
phinstone's  foundation,  of  eleven  boys,  although 
it  seems  that  the  actual  number  was  never  more 
than  six.'" 

Besides  attending  to  the  internal  reforms 
needed  in  the  Cathedral  and  presenting  it  with 
costly  gifts,  Elphinstone  applied  himself  with 
vigour  to  the  task  of  completing  and  improving 
the  fabric.  When  he  became  Bishop,  the  great 
tower  begun  by  Bishop  Leighton  half  a  century 
earlier  was  still  unfinished.  This  he  completed, 
and  covered  it,  as  well  as  the  roof  of  the  whole 
building,  with  lead.     In  the  tower,  by  his  efforts 


*^  The  use  of  a  black  cope  by  singers  in  the  choir 
has  survived  to  the  present  day  in  Lincoln  Cathedral,  where 
each  of  the  two  senior  choir  boys  wears  one. 

^o/6i^.,  p.  71. 


102  BIOGRAPBWAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  expense,  were  placed  three  bells  of  12,000" 
pounds  weight.  He  then  commenced  to  rebuild 
the  choir,  which  was  not  worthy  in  respect  either 
of  its  size  or  its  beauty,  of  so  large  a  church. 
With  characteristic  caution  the  Bishop  would  not 
allow  the  old  choir  to  be  demolished  until  he  had 
gathered  all  the  materials  necessary  for  the  com- 
pletion of  the  new  one.  Great  heaps  of  stone  and 
lime  were  collected,  and  the  workmen  selected  by 
himself,  and  set  to  work.  Elphinstone  did  not 
live  to  see  the  completion  of  this  work,  but  no 
small  part  of  the  choir  was  built  before  his  death." 

Alas  for  the  uncertainty  of  man's  handiwork! 
Practically  the  whole  of  Elphinstone's  building 
has  long  since  disappeared.  The  tower  which  he 
completed  fell  in  1688,  and  in  consequence  the 
choir  which  he  began  became  a  ruin,  while  the  old 
nave  of  pinkish  granite  still  stands,  its  two  west- 
em  towers  a  venerable  landmark  for  the  country 
round,  and  its  interior  modified  to  serve  the  pur- 
poses of  a  Presbyterian  parish  church. 

More  abiding  was  the  fruit  of  the  good  Bish- 
op's labours  in  the  sphere  of  education.  The  work 
of  fostering  the  love  of  learning,  and  of  bringing 
facilities  for  study  within  the  reach  of  all  who 
cared  to  use  them  was  one  which  no  ecclesiastical 


'^^  So  says  Boece. 

'^^  Lives,  p.  97.  Elphinstone  also  completed  the  choir  of 
St.  Nicholas'  Church  in  Aberdeen,  which  furnished  his 
"prebend."     (Cowan,  p.  7.) 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  103 

changes  could  ruin ;  and  it  is  chiefly  as  the  founder 
of  the  University  of  Aberdeen  and  the  builder  of 
King's  College''  that  Elphinstone's  name  is  grate- 
fully remembered  in  the  north  of  Scotland.  Many 
a  poor  lad  has  had  abundant  reason,  after  the 
Eeformation  even  more  than  before  it,  to  be  grate- 
ful for  the  beneficence  and  labour  of  this  mediaeval 
Bishop,  through  which  he  was  enabled  to  grasp 
the  chance  of  his  lifetime.  And  to  Elphinstone's 
foundation  is  to  be  also  largely  attributed  the  high 
general  standard  of  education  which  has  for  cen- 
turies characterised  the  north  eastern  region  of 
Scotland. 

Aberdeen  had  indeed  been,  long  before  its  Uni- 
versity was  founded,  an  educational  centre.  The 
Grammar  School  existed  in  1262  and  probably 
before  that  date,  and  every  Cathedral,  with  its 
body  of  canons,  was  more  or  less  a  home  of  learn- 
ing. Doubtless  there  were  always  ecclesiastics  in 
the  Aberdeen  Chapter  who  were  qualified  to  teach 
in  the  higher  branches  of  learning,  and  possibly 
to  train  candidates  for  Holy  Orders.''*  Out  of 
this  nucleus  there  was  formed,  at  Aberdeen  as 
elsewhere,  a  studium  generale  or  university,  when 
the  great  wave  of  educational  impulse,  born  of  the 

^'  Originally  dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  but  after- 
wards called  also,  by  Elphinstone's  wish.  King's  College, 
in  recognition  of  the  interest  which  James  IV.  shewed 
in  it. 

"This  seems  to  be  what  is  meant  by  the  "College  of 
Canons,"  referred  to  by  Professor  Cowan  and  others. 


104  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Eenaissance,  flowed  over  Europe  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  Elphinstone,  as  we  have  seen,  was  one 
of  the  earliest  students  of  Glasgow  University, 
founded  by  Bishop  William  TurnbuU  in  1451, 
and  earlier  still,  in  1014,  Bishop  Henry  Wardlaw 
had  founded  the  University  of  St.  Andrews. 
Now  in  his  turn  Elphinstone  set  himself  to  work 
to  establish  a  similar  institution  in  the  north, 
having  enlisted  James  IV.  as  an  enthusiastic  ally. 
The  papal  bull  creating  the  new  University,  which 
was  granted  on  the  10th  February,  1494-5,  re- 
lates that  the  institution  is  to  be  specially  for  the 
benefit  of  a  "remote  portion  of  Scotland  cut  off 
from  the  rest  of  the  kingdom  by  arms  of  the  sea 
and  very  lofty  mountains^  and  inhabited  by  un- 
lettered, ignorant,  and  almost  barbarous  people, 
who  have  scarcely  among  them  men  capable  of 
preaching  the  Word  and  administering  the  Sac- 
raments." " 

According  to  the  custom  of  the  times  the  Uni- 
versity was  founded  without  any  buildings  of  its 
own,  but  Elphinstone's  energy  and  munificence 
within  a  few  years  had  provided  its  first  habita- 
tion. The  chapel  was  begun  earliest  of  all,  in 
1500,"  and  about  five  years  later  the  original 
buildings  were  completed,  including  chapel,  tower 
and    crown,    residence    and    class    rooms."      The 

"  Cowan,  ut  supra,  p.  9. 

•^•In  this  year   Hector  Boece  had  arrived  from  Paris, 
p.  11.  ''Ibid.,  p.  10. 


SCOTTISH  CHUBGH  HISTORY  105 

tower  still  stands  bearing  its  beautiful  crown/* 
and  the  chapel,  in  spite  of  transformations  both 
external  and  internal,  remains  in  substance  a  ven- 
erable monument  of  the  founder's  liberality.  The 
^^fine  carved  work,  seats  for  the  use  of  the  priests, 
and  benches  for  the  boys,  made  with  wonderful 
art,"  "  may  still  be  seen,  at  least  in  part.  But 
gone  are  ^^the  marble  altars  and  the  images  of  the 
saints,  the  statues  and  pictures  gilt  with  gold," 
with  all  the  valuable  ornaments  for  church  and 
ministers,  and  the  ^^casket  of  cypress-wood  set 
with  pearls  and  jewels,  and  of  beautiful  work- 
manship," in  which  were  kept  "the  venerable 
relics  of  the  saints  set  in  gold  and  silver."  Gone 
too  from  the  bell-tower  are  the  "thirteen  bells, 
pleasing  the  ear  with  sweet  and  holy  melody," 
the  gift  of  Bishop  William. 

The  constitution  of  the  University  was  mod- 
elled upon  those  of  Paris  and  Bologna,  and  two 
of  its  provisions  are  worthy  of  special  notice. 
One  was  the  foundation  of  a  chair  of  medicine, 
which  no  other  university  in  Great  Britain  then 
possessed,  and  the  other  was  the  providing  of  spe- 
cial facilities  for  poor  students,  a  feature  for 
which  Elphinstone's  University  has  always  been 
notable.  Salaries  were  also  provided  for  the  lec- 
turers, in  advance  of  the  other  Scottish  univer- 


^^  Repaired    in    1620,    and    rebuilt    in    1633.      Quater- 
centenary  Studies,  No.  19,  p.  370. 
"'  Lives,  p.  94. 


106  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

sities.  It  may  also  be  said  that,  while  the  Bishop 
succeeded  in  attracting  much  financial  support 
for  the  promotion  of  his  scheme,  his  own  liberality 
was  its  mainstay.  "There  can  be  no  reasonable 
doubt,"  says  Professor  Cowan,""  "that  the  original 
College  of  St.  Mary,  of  which  he  is  expressly 
stated  to  be  the  founder,  was  built  by  him  largely 
out  of  savings  from  his  episcopal  income." 

If  further  illustration  be  required  of  Elphin- 
stone's  public  spirit,  and  of  his  close  touch  with  the 
important  movements  of  his  age,  we  may  find  it 
in  connection  with  the  introduction  into  Scotland 
of  that  mighty  engine,  the  printing  press.  In  the 
year  1507  James  IV.  granted  a  charter  to  Walter 
Chepman  and  Andrew  Myllar,  burgesses  of  Edin- 
burgh, to  set  up  the  first  press  in  Scotland,  with 
special  reference  to  the  liturgical  and  historical 
work  of  the  Bishop  of  Aberdeen.  It  was  directed 
that  "in  time  coming  mass  books,  manuals,  matin 
books,  and  portuus  books,  after  our  ain  Scottish 
use,  with  legends  of  Scottish  saints  as  now  gath- 
ered and  eked  by  our  Reverend  Father  in  God 
and  trusty  counsellor,  William,  Bishop  of  Aber- 
deen, be  imprinted  and  provided;  and  that  na 
manner  of  sich  books  of  Salisbury  be  brought  to 
be  sauld  within  our  realm  in  all  time  coming."  "^ 
This  reference  suggests  that  it  was  to  some  extent 
at   least  through   Elphinstone's   efforts   that   this 


«« Studies,  ut  supra,  p.  10.       «^  Reg,  Sec.  Sig.,  Ill,  129. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  107 

notable  development  took  place,  and  at  the  same 
time  reveals  his  patriotic  desire  to  supplant  the 
service  books  of  Sarum,  which  had  for  long  been 
in  general  use  in  Scotland,  by  means  of  others 
more  distinctly  Scottish  in  character. 

Elphinstone  had  collected  a  large  amount  of 
material  from  documentary  sources  and  oral  tradi- 
tion, relating  to  the  lives  of  the  old  Scottish 
saints,''''  which  he  introduced  into  his  revised  edi- 
tion of  the  Sarum  Breviary,  with  suitable  hymns 
and  prayers.  Thus  the  Aberdeen  Breviary,  one 
of  the  earliest  productions  of  Scottish  printing,"  if 
not  actually  the  first,  is  a  valuable  memorial  of 
the  ancient  Church,  both  to  the  historian  and  to 
the  liturgical  student.  This,  however,  was  the 
only  instalment  of  Elphinstone's  scheme  which 
was  carried  out,  and  in  little  more  than  fifty  years, 
before  the  Aberdeen  Breviary  had  superseded  that 
of  Sarum,  the  flood  time  of  the  Reformation  had 
swept  away  all  the  old  service  books  from  general 
use. 

To  the  end  of  his  days  the  good  Bishop  had 
work  of  public  utility  in  hand.  His  last  project 
of  the  kind  was  to  build  a  bridge  over  the  Dee. 

^^Boece,  p.  99.  Bishop  Elphinstone's  historical  collec- 
tions are  now  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford.  "They  are 
now  known  to  be  little  more  than  chronicles  or  chronologi- 
cal notices  taken  from  Fordun  and  his  continuator,  with 
some  valuable  copies  of  original  papers."  ( Innes,  Preface 
to  Aberdeen  Register,  p.  51.) 

«« Published  1509-10.     lUd.,  p.  163. 


108  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

He  collected  for  this  purpose,  we  are  told/*  an 
immense  quantity  of  stones  and  timber  and  ce- 
ment, and  secured  the  services  of  choice  craftsmen, 
but  death  overtook  him  before  his  pious  task  was 
more  than  begun.  It  was  left  to  his  successor, 
Bishop  Dunbar,  to  erect  the  bridge  which,  after 
many  an  alteration,  spans  the  river  Dee  at  the 
present  day. 

Little  space  has  been  left  to  deal  with  Elphin- 
stone's  political  life  under  James  IV.  It  would 
seem  that  as  soon  as  the  young  king  was  free  to 
act  for  himself,  he  recalled  to  court  the  man  who 
fead  been  so  faithful  to  his  father,  and  appointed 
him  a  privy  councillor.^"  Restored  again  to  royal 
favour,  the  Bishop  devoted  himself  anew  to  the 
work  of  peace  maker.  The  feuds  between  contend- 
ing nobles  and  the  smouldering  fires  of  discontent 
which  threatened  the  welfare  of  the  nation  were 
quenched  by  his  efforts,  and  the  administration 
of  justice  was  facilitated  by  the  institution  of 
itinerant  courts.*'  In  this  reign,  as  in  the  pre- 
vious one,  he  acted  as  one  of  the  Lords  Auditors 
of  Complaints,"^  and  we  find  him  holding  office  as 
keeper  of  the  Privy  seal  as  early  as  5th  December, 
1492."*  His  diplomatic  gifts  also  found  scope 
afresh  in  several  important  missions. 


«*  Boece,  p.  98.  ''^  Boece,  p.  79.  «« p.  80. 

"  Innes.    Pref.  to  Ah.  Register ,  p.  xliv. 
^^Dowden.    Bishops  of  Scotland,  p.  130. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  109 

The  picture  which  Boece  draws  of  the  Bishop's 
private  life  amidst  all  those  labours  and  distrac- 
tions is  a  fine  one/'  ^^Though  he  was  all  but 
crushed  by  endless  anxieties,  he  never  neglected 
his  religious  duties.  ^KTeither  in  his  youth,  nor  in 
his  old  age,  neither  as  a  public  official  nor  as  a 
private  person  did  he  neglect  his  studies.  In  the 
leisure  of  his  old  age  he  took  great  delight  in  the 
Scriptures,  the  memorials  of  the  prophets,  apos- 
tles, and  interpreters  of  holy  writ,  sometimes,  too, 
of  the  philosophers  whose  works  chiefly  conduce  to 
a  holy  life.  Meanwhile  his  solitary  hours  were 
spent  in  peaceful  leisure,  in  a  complete  tran- 
quillity where  everything  afi^orded  him  joy.  In 
this  leisure,  this  solitude,  he  sometimes  talked  with 
himself,  discussing  moral  questions,  questions  of 
life,  and  the  maxims  of  noble  living.  Thus  he 
spent  his  leisure,  thus  his  solitary  hours.  He  kept 
a  splendid  table.  He  hardly  ever  dined  without 
noble  company,  and  while  the  table  was  always 
sumptuous,  he  himself  amid  these  dainties  was  ab- 
stemious, cheerful  of  countenance  and  gay  in  con- 
versation. He  loved  the  company  of  learned  men, 
music  and  decent  merriment,  while  he  detested 
all  scurrilous  talk.'"  He  had  such  natural  ability 
and  mental  vigour  that  he  never  failed  to  rise  to 

««p.  100. 

''^  Cf.,  p.  111.  "He  detested  the  word  indecency  as  much 
as  indecency  itself.  The  company  of  women  he  avoided 
both  in  public  and  in  private." 


110  BIOGRAPHICAL  8TUDIE8  IN 

any  occasion  either  in  public  or  private  life.  He 
was  equally  at  home  in  civil  and  religious  affairs, 
possessing  as  he  did  a  most  versatile  genius.  Dur- 
ing all  the  period  of  his  life  none  was  more  skilled 
in  law,  none  more  able  to  deal  with  great  affairs ; 
for  in  eloquence  he  vied  with  the  greatest  orators, 
and  no  single  citizen  had  more  at  heart  or  more 
advanced  the  cause  of  patriotism,  tranquillity, 
peace,  and  order.  He  seemed  to  possess  almost 
an  iron  constitution  and  an  ability  to  endure  any 
labour,  since  no  toil,  no  exercise,  no  public  or 
private  duty  could  exhaust  his  energy.  Even  old 
age  itself,  the  common  and  inevitable  disease  of 
man,  though  it  might  weaken,  could  not  break  his 
spirit.  For  even  when  past  his  eighty-third  year 
he  discussed  weighty  affairs  of  state  with  superior 
acuteness,  his  capacity  and  senses  being  still  un- 
impaired. He  was  gifted  with  a  retentive  mem- 
ory, which  continued  strong  to  the  last.  His  old 
age  was  happy  and  venerable,  without  moroseness 
or  anxiety,  free  from  peevishness  and  the  usual 
melancholy.  And,  to  put  the  whole  matter  briefly, 
neither  did  old  age  change  his  disposition,  which 
had  always  been  excellent,  nor  until  his  last  ill- 
ness did  he  suffer  anything  which  might  lead  him 
with  justice  to  complain  of  old  age." 

Elphinstone  was  over  eighty  years  of  age  when 
the  war-clouds  began  to  gather  which  burst  with 
such  awful  disaster  on  the  fatal  field  of  Flodden. 
True  to  his  pacific  nature,  the  Bishop,  knowing  as 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  111 

he  did  something  about  the  horrors  of  war,  joined 
in  the  opposition  which  was  offered  to  the  militant 
party.  His  remonstrances,  however,  were  impo- 
tent in  the  face  of  the  general  fever  to  take  arms 
against  the  "auld  enemy,"  England,  and  the  old 
man  was  insulted  as  a  dotard,  forgetful  of  the 
public  weal,  and  the  nation's  ancestral  honour. 
From  the  shock  of  Flodden,  where  ^^the  flowers  of 
the  forest  were  a'  wede  away"  when  James  and 
the  better  part  of  the  nobility  of  Scotland  per- 
ished, Elphinstone  never  recovered.  Never  again 
was  he  seen  to  smile,  or  to  take  delight  in  inno- 
cent mirth.  His  grief  occasioned  the  disorder 
which  brought  him  to  his  end." 

The  boy  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  Alexan- 
der Stewart,  an  illegitimate  son  of  the  king,  had 
fallen  with  his  father  on  the  field  of  battle,  and 
Elphinstone  was  marked  out  as  his  successor. 
Boece  says  that  he  "stedf astly  refused  this  crown- 
ing dignity,"  "  but  this  statement  seems  not  to 
be  strictly  accurate."  However  this  may  be,  El- 
phinstone died  before  any  appointment  to  the  Pri- 
macy could  be  made.  In  spite  of  his  poor  health, 
he  had  travelled  from  Aberdeen  to  Edinburgh 
in  the  hope  of  settling  the  dissensions  which  had 
broken  out  among  the  nobles,  and  which  raged 


"  Boece,  p.  105.       "  p.  106. 

^'  See   the    documents   quoted   by   Dowden,    Bishops    of 
Scotland,  pp.  129  and  130  n.  1. 


112  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

until  the  time  of  the  Eeformation.  When  he  ar- 
rived at  the  capital  he  was  in  a  high  fever,  be- 
yond the  skill  of  physicians  to  cure.  Yet  such  was 
his  iron  constitution  that  on  the  day  before  his 
death  he  attended  service  in  the  chapel  and 
preached,  and  received  the  Holy  Sacrament.  In 
the  evening  he  supped  with  some  of  the  nobles 
who  had  come  to  comfort  him,  and  next  morning'* 
he  died,  calling  upon  the  name  of  Jesus  the 
Saviour  and  of  His  Mother  until  speech  failed 
him." 

When  asked  where  he  would  be  buried  the 
dying  prelate  had  said,  ^^My  soul  I  have  long 
since  given  to  God.  Bury  my  body  where  ye 
please.'^  It  seemed  most  fitting  that  Aberdeen 
should  be  his  burial  place,  and  after  his  viscera 
had  been  removed  and  buried  in  the  Black  Friars' 
House,  Edinburgh,'"  his  embalmed  body  was 
brought  to  Aberdeen,  and  buried  before  the  high 
altar  of  the  chapel  at  King's  College,  "with  a 
pomp  more  mournful  than  magnificent."  "  At 
the  funeral,  so  Boece  relates,  the  Bishop's  pas- 
toral staff,  made  of  silver,  was  broken  and  part 
fell  into  the  grave  where  the  body  was  to  be  laid. 
Thereupon  a  voice,  of  uncertain  origin   {incerta 


^*25tli  Oct.,  1514.    Dowden,  Bishops,  p.  130. 
"  Boece,  p.  108.        "^^  Dowden,  Bishops,  p.  130. 
"Boece,  p.  109. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  113 

vox),    was    heard,    ^^Thy    mitre    also,    William, 
should  be  buried  with  thee.'''^ 

Thus  passed  away  in  a  ripe  old  age  and  at  the 
post  of  duty,  this  saintly  Bishop.  Many  troubles 
he  had  to  bear,  and  many  anxious  tasks  to  face,  but 
he  was  happily  spared  from  sadder  things  to  come. 
His  death  was  the  cause  of  universal  grief.  The 
people  of  Aberdeen,  citizens,  women,  and  clergy 
alike,  long  mourned  for  him  as  for  a  father,  saying 
sadly  that  ^Vith  him  had  perished  the  glory  of 
Aberdeen,  and  also  all  their  happiness.'''^  The 
oratorical  tribute  with  which  Boece  prefaced  his 
biography  has  yet  in  it  the  touch  of  real  personal 
feeling.  "We  have  seen  a  man  whom,  on  account 
of  his  rare  excellence,  we  congratulate  ourselves  on 
having  seen,  and  we  feel  and  express  and  shall  feel 
and  express  as  long  as  we  live,  to  Almighty  God 
no  ordinary  gratitude  for  this  high  privilege."  *^ 


^*  Boece  relates,  in  his  credulous  fashion,  a  number  of 
prodigies  which  happened  at  that  time. 
'» Boece,  p.  111.         ««p.  58. 


IV-THE  REFORMATION  PERIOD 

John  Erskine  of  Dun^  Scottish  Refoemer 
AND  Superintendent 

(Bom  1509— Died  1589) 

It  may  well  seem  a  bold  thing  to  attempt  an 
account  of  that  confused  social,  political,  and  re- 
ligious revolution  which  is  known  as  the  Scottish 
Eeformation,  without  making  John  Knox  its 
central  figure.  The  mere  idea,  indeed,  of  such 
a  performance  will  doubtless  present  itself  to 
many  minds  as  an  absurdity  to  be  compared  with 
the  famous  rendering  of  Shakespeare's  play  with 
the  part  of  Hamlet  left  out.  And  yet  there  is  both 
room  and  need,  as  will  be  shown,  for  such  an  out- 
line of  the  Reformation  period  in  Scotland  as  shall 
exhibit  all  the  elements  of  the  situation,  not  only 
those  which  Knox  was  so  well  qualified  to  repre- 
sent, both  in  his  character  and  in  the  history 
which  he  wrote,  but  also  those  more  essential  ones 
which  the  Knoxian  tradition  has  tended  to  ob- 
scure. It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  leave  Knox 
out  of  any  intelligible  account  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, but  it  is  possible,  and  in  the  interests  of 
historical  truth  desirable,   to   assign  to  him  the 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  115 

position  which  he  really  seems  to  have  occupied 
in  that  important  movement. 

Not  that  one  forgets  either  the  greatness  of 
Knox's  character,  or  the  immense  value  of  the 
services  which  he  rendered  to  his  nation.  His 
character,  indeed,  presents  a  somewhat  perplex- 
ing psychological  problem  to  candid  minds.  To 
his  multitude  of  friends  and  admirers  he  has  ap- 
peared as  an  all  but  flawless  apostle  of  Scottish 
Christianity,  while  his  enemies  and  detractors 
have  seen  in  him  only  the  incarnation  of  all  that 
was  wrong  and  misguided  in  his  time.  Few  in- 
dependent students  of  his  life,  however,  will  ac- 
cept either  conclusion.  One  is  alternately  attracted 
and  repelled  by  his  character.  His  extraordinary 
vigour  and  intensity,  the  invincible  integrity  of 
his  purpose,  and  the  purity  of  his  aims  as  a  re- 
former command  our  admiration.  When  all  men 
around  him  were  enriching  themselves  with  the 
spoils  of  the  Church,  he  died  a  poor  man,  un- 
sullied with  the  ^^merchandise"  of  the  Reforma- 
tion.^ His  human  qualities,  too,  commend  them- 
selves to  us,  the  pathos  and  the  humour  which 
so  often  dignify  and  illuminate  the  pages  of  his 
history,  the  softness  of  heart  which  made  it  diffi- 
cult for  him  to  punish  his  own  children,*  and 
which  shewed  itself  in  his  tenderness  towards  a 


^  Merchandies  haif  I  not  maid."    See  his  last  will  and 
testament.     R.  Bannatyne's  Memorials,  p.  370.  ^ 
2  Knox's  Works  J  II,  p.  388. 


116  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

somewhat  trying  mother-in-law.  But  on  the  other 
hand  we  are  confronted  with  that  side  of  his 
character  which  made  Cranmer  class  him  amongst 
those  "glorious'  and  unquiet  spirits  which  can  like 
nothing  but  that  is  after  their  own  fancy/'  and 
which  drew  even  from  John  Calvin  a  private  con- 
demnation of  his  "reckless  arrogance."  *  Nor  is 
it  merely  the  violence  of  his  opinions  and  of  his 
language  which  offends/  for  it  might  with  some 
truth  be  contended  that  his  bark  was  often  worse 
than  his  bite.  But  his  unfairness  towards  those 
who  differed  from  him,  well  exemplified  by  his 
stooping  to  unworthy  slander  of  Mary  of  Guise, 
the  unchristian  glee  which  he  shews  over  such  a 
case  as  the  murder  of  Cardinal  Beaton,''  the  blood- 
thirstiness  of  the  counsels  which  he  urged  upon 
his  fellow-citizens  at  different  times,  and  his  occa- 
sional unscrupulousness  as  a  politician,^  inspire 
one  with  sentiments  of  another  kind  than  those 
of  approval. 


^  Braggart.  Proctor  and  Frere,  History  of  Prayer  Book, 
p.  84. 

*  Zurich  Letters.  2nd  series,  p.  35.  (Parker  Society.) 
Oh  inconsideratum  unius  hominis  fastum. 

^  "His  favourite  adjectives  are  ^bloody/  'beastly/  'rot- 
ten/ and  'stinking.' "  Andrew  Lang's  John  Knox  and  the 
Reformation,  p.  xi. 

®  "Other  good  men  rejoiced  in  the  murder  of  an  enemy, 
but  Knox  chuckled."   Lang,  p.  17. 

^  See  Hume  Brown's  John  Know,  II,  57,  where  the 
author  defends  the  case  exemplified  as  the  only  lapse  of  the 
kind  in  Knox's  career. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  117 

It  is,  however,  when  we  try  to  estimate  the 
true  historical  value  of  Knox's  History  of  the 
Reformation  that  our  chief  difficulty  arises. 
Knox's  character  repeats  itself  on  every  page  of 
that  work,  which  has  been  more  than  anything 
else  responsible  for  the  popular  idea  of  the  nature 
of  the  Scottish  Reformation,  and  of  the  part  which 
Knox  played  in  it.  Its  striking  literary  qualities, 
its  vigour  and  vivacious  clearness,  as  well  as  those 
frequent  touches  of  pathos  and  humour  already 
referred  to,  have  commended  it  to  readers  of  his- 
tory for  centuries.  It  is,  besides,  our  sole  authority 
for  a  great  portion  of  what  we  know,  both  about 
the  Reformation  and  about  Knox's  part  in  it. 
But  when  we  ask  how  far  a  violent  partizan  like 
Knox  may  be  trusted  on  many  points  of  critical 
importance,  as  to  which  he  is  our  only  informant, 
it  is  not  mere  prejudice  that  causes  our  hesita- 
tion to  follow  him  implicitly. 

On  this  point  authorities  have  naturally  dif- 
fered, but  in  modern  times  this  difficulty  has  been 
pretty  weU  recognized.  Thus  Professor  Hume 
Brown,  who  can  in  no  way  be  described  as  a  de- 
tractor of  Knox,  admits  that  the  Reformer  did 
not  always  represent  the  truth  of  things.  He 
maintains,  indeed,  that  "in  the  actual  narrative 
we  have  convincing  proof  alike  of  the  writer's 
good  faith,  and  of  his  perception  of  the  conditions 


118  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

of  historic  truth/'  *  but  points  out  that  Knox  did 
not  scruple,  when  irritated,  to  misrepresent  even 
the  position  of  his  own  friends,  the  Protestant 
nobles.  ^^According  to  his  representation,"  says 
the  biographer,  "they  played  into  the  hands  of 
Mary  for  their  own  selfish  interests,  and  betrayed 
the  Church  to  which  they  had  professed  their  de- 
votion. How  far  this  was  from  the  whole  truth 
we  have  already  seen ;  and  in  his  later  years  Knox 
may  himself  have  come  to  see  that  in  his  haste 
he  had  done  gross  injustice  to  certain  men  whom 
in  his  heart  he  regarded  with  affection  and  es- 
teem." " 

If  Knox  could  deal  thus  with  his  friends,  we 
may  well  ask  how,  good  hater  as  he  was,  he  was 
likely  to  represent  the  doings  of  his  enemies.  Mr. 
Andrew  Lang  has  dealt  with  this  aspect  of  the 
situation  in  his  recent  work,^**  and  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  in  his  History  Knox  requires  care- 
ful watching,  as  one  who,  both  as  a  politician  and 
an  historian,  sailed  "as  near  the  wind  as  he 
could." 

We  turn  therefore  with  some  feelings  of  re- 
lief to  the  life  of  John  Erskine  of  Dun  as  one 
which  presents  us  with  fewer  perplexities,  whether 
psychological  or  historical.  In  him  we  have  a 
reformer,  of  an  entirely  different  type  from  that 


^Life  of  John  Knox,  II,  p.  218.       "^  Ibid,  p.  221. 
^^John  Knox  and  the  Reformation,  1905,  pp.  ix,  xi. 


SCOTTISH  CBURCH  HISTORY  119 

of  Knox,  whose  importance  in  the  Eeformation 
movement  has  hardly  been  adequately  recognized. 
He  did  not  enjoy,  as  Knox  did,  the  unique  privilege 
of  writing  as  well  as  making  history,  and  in  con- 
sequence his  historical  position  has  been  obscured. 
Our  information  regarding  his  career  has  to  be 
gleaned  from  two  biographies  of  later  date,"  and 
from  various  documents  and  incidental  historical 
notices  which  have  come  down  to  us.  Yet  such 
as  it  is,  the  material  at  our  disposal  throws  a  light 
upon  the  Scottish  Eeformation  which  Knox's 
History  does  not  afford  us.  It  will  help  us  to 
understand  that  this  momentous  event  was  not  a 
one-man  affair,  and  that  the  views  of  all  the  re- 
formers did  not  by  any  means  coincide  with  those 
which  are  generally  attributed  to  Knox. 

It  may  seem  unkind,  in  view  of  Scottish  feel- 
ing on  the  subject,  even  to  suggest  that  the  Eef- 
ormation could  have  taken  place  without  John 
Knox,  but  such  is  the  opinion  of  the  Histori- 
ographer-Eoyal  of  Scotland.  Professor  Hume 
Brown  declares  that  "even  had  Knox  remained 
the  rest  of  his  days  in  Geneva,  the  revolution  in 

"The  more  important  is  that  of  the  Presbyterian  min- 
ister, the  Rev.  Robert  Wodrow,  who  in  the  first  quarter  of 
the  18th  century  compiled  his  "Collections  upon  the  lives 
of  the  Reformers  and  most  eminent  ministers  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland,"  of  which  the  life  of  Erskine  is  the  first. 
(Maitland  Club.  1834.)  The  other  is  that  of  Bowick 
(1828)  who,  as  a  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Town  Clerk  of 
Montrose,  has  access  to  local  information. 


120  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Church  and  State  must  have  come  as  the  result 
of  many  combined  forces  moving  to  the  same 
end."  ^^  Nay,  more,  he  is  even  inclined  to  under- 
value Knox's  influence  upon  the  actual  settlement, 
such  as  it  was,  which  was  arrived  at.  ^^It  may  be 
safely  said  that  had  Scotland  never  seen  him 
again  [in  1560]  the  eventual  direction  both  of 
politics  and  religion  could  not  have  been  widely 
different  from  what  it  has  actually  been."  As 
to  the  second  of  these  propositions  something 
might  be  said  on  the  other  side,  but  the  first  of 
them  is  self-evident  to  an  open  mind.  And  while 
it  is  possible  to  imagine  a  Scottish  Reformation — 
and  a  much  better  one — ^without  Knox,  it  is  not  so 
easy  to  picture  it  without  such  a  man  as  Erskine 
of  Dun. 

The  truth  is  that  in  the  womb  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, in  Scotland  as  elsewhere,  there  were  two  prin- 
ciples, not  as  yet  strongly  antagonistic,  but  des- 
tined to  be  set  in  bitter  rivalry  in  the  days  to 
come,  the  catholic  and  the  ultra-protestant.  We 
should  indeed  be  surprised  if  this  were  not  so, 
for  these  two  tendencies,  the  conservative  and  the 
revolutionary,  are  inherent  in  human  thought  and 
character,  and  their  due  interaction  is  necessary 
to  all  true  and  wise  progress.    We  see  them  work- 


"Life  of  Knox  J  I,  316.  At  the  same  time  this  author 
appraises  Knox's  influence  in  the  highest  terms,  e.g.,  on  p. 
268.  "No  single  man  did  more  than  Knox  to  bring  about 
these  results." 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  121 

ing  on  every  side  to-day  in  politics  and  learning, 
in  practical  affairs  as  well  as  theology,  and  indeed 
in  every  department  of  life.  It  would  indeed  be 
strange  if  so  important  and  striking  a  period  as 
that  of  the  Eeformation  did  not  exhibit  them  at 
work,  and  if  we  set  aside  the  glamour  of  the 
Knoxian  tradition  we  can  easily  perceive  them. 
If  Knox  and  his  friends  stand  for  the  root-and- 
branch  policy,  Erskine  and  the  men  who  thought 
like  him  stand  for  moderation.  It  is  true  that  the 
powerful  forces  arrayed  against  both  classes  of 
reformers  and  their  sense  of  common  danger 
welded  them  into  a  united  body,  and  made  them 
sink  their  differences  for  the  common  good.  The 
result  was,  as  we  shall  see,  a  compromise  which 
was  responsible  for  many  of  the  subsequent  re- 
ligious troubles  of  Scotland. 

Erskine  was  both  by  character  and  tempera- 
ment peculiarly  fitted  to  represent  the  moderate 
element  in  the  Scottish  Reformation.  His  gentle 
and  gracious  disposition  won  in  a  remarkable 
degree  the  respect  and  affection  of  his  contem- 
poraries. Knox,  to  his  credit  be  it  said,  appre- 
ciated to  the  full  the  qualities  of  one  who  was 
so  unlike  himself  in  this  respect.  Erskine  was, 
he  says,  "a  man  most  gentle  of  nature,"  and  "a 
man  of  meek  and  gentle  spirit."  "  He  also  re- 
cords an  instance  of  the  high  estimation  in  which 


»  Works,  I,  p.  317,  and  II,  386. 


122  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Queen  Mary  held  his  milder  colleague.  In  1565 
she  took  occasion  to  assure  the  superintendents 
Willock,  Winram,  and  Spottiswoode  of  her  bene- 
ficent wishes,  saying  that  she  would  be  content  to 
hear  public  preaching  from  such  as  pleased  her, 
and  especially  that  '^she  would  gladly  hear  the 
Superintendent  of  Angus  (for  he  was  a  mild  and 
sweet-natured  man)  with  true  honesty  and  up- 
rightness, John  Erskine  of  Dun."  That  these 
enconiums  were  thoroughly  deserved,  and  that 
Erskine  stands  out  as  the  leading  conciliatory 
figure  in  the  Scottish  Eeformation,  will  be  made 
clear  in  the  following  narrative. 

Another  point  deserves  prominence.  Of  Er- 
skine it  may  be  said  that  more  than  any  other  man 
he  bore  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  Eeformation 
day.  Of  all  the  leaders  in  that  movement  he  is 
by  far  the  earliest  on  the  scene,  and  when  he  died 
in  1589,  the  last  of  the  Superintendents,  he  had 
outlived  Knox  and  all  the  other  prominent  actors 
in  the  events  of  1560.  While  Knox  himself  was 
a  member  of  what  he  calls  ^^the  synagogue  of 
Satan,"  and  even  before  he  had  become  one  of 
the  "rotten  priests  of  Baal,"  Erskine  was  already 
known  as  one  who  was  "marvellously  illuminated" 
by  God,  and  the  friend  of  a  protestant  martyr.'* 
And  for  the  long  period  of  fifty-five  years  we 
find  him  labouring  in  the  cause  of  religious  re- 


*  In  the  year  1534.    Knox's  Works,  I,  69. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  123 

form,  both  as  a  layman,  and  as  an  officebearer  in 
the  new  Kirk.  He  was  peculiarly  fitted  both  by 
his  birth  and  by  his  public  career  to  render  services 
of  the  highest  value  to  the  cause  which  he  had 
espoused.  His  family  connections  enabled  him 
to  act  as  the  chief  connecting  link  between  the 
members  of  the  nobility  and  the  general  body  of 
the  reformers,  while  his  manysided  and  practical 
experience  of  public  life  as  a  soldier,  a  statesman, 
an  administrator  of  justice,  and  the  head  of  a 
municipality,  imparted  a  special  weight  and  au- 
thority to  his  counsels. 

The  future  reformer  was  bom  in  the  year 
1509."  The  mansion  of  Dun,  which  now  pos- 
sesses only  an  old  gateway  of  the  house  in  which 
he  is  said  to  have  first  seen  the  light,  is  situated 
in  the  north-east  of  Forfarshire,  about  four  miles 
inland  from  the  seaport  town  of  Montrose.  If 
John  Erskine  was  born  at  Dun  House,  his  family 
must  have  lived  there  on  the  patriarchal  system, 
as  it  was  his  grandfather  who  was  the  Laird  at 
that  time.  The  race  to  which  he  belonged  was  an 
ancient  and  honourable  one.  The  first  Erskine  of 
Dun  known  to  history  lived  in  the  reign  of  David 
II.,  and  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Lords  Erskine 
and  Earls  of  Mar."     The  mother  of  our  Erskine 


"5th  Report  of  the  Historical  M.S.S.  Commission,  p. 
633b. 

'^Ihid.,  p.  633a. 


124  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

was  Margaret,  Lady  Euthven,  widow  of  Alexan- 
der, the  second  Earl  of  Buchan. 

When  Erskine  was  only  four  years  of  age,  and 
happily  too  young  to  understand  the  meaning  of 
his  loss,  the  woeful  day  of  Flodden  deprived  him 
not  only  of  his  father,  but  of  almost  all  his  nearest 
male  relatives.  The  Lairds  of  Dun  as  barons  were 
bound,  according  to  feudal  law,  to  render  military 
service  to  the  Crown  when  called  upon,  and  most 
of  the  able-bodied  men  of  the  family  seem  to 
have  followed  James  IV.  on  his  fatal  expedi- 
tion. On  the  battlefield  there  fell  amongst  the 
others  John  the  Laird  of  Dun,  with  his  brother 
Thomas,  and  his  two  sons.  Sir  John,  the  reform- 
er's father,  and  Alexander. 

Thus  bereft  of  his  father's  care,  the  child  was 
fortunate  indeed  in  having  for  guardian  his  uncle. 
Sir  Thomas  Erskine  of  Brechin,  a  man  of  worth 
and  wisdom,  and  a  prominent  and  influential  figure 
in  his  day,  as  Secretary  to  King  James  V.  Under 
the  charge  of  his  uncle  the  boy  received,  beyond 
doubt,  an  education  befitting  his  station.  "No 
doubt,"  says  Wodrow,  "the  heir  of  this  family  had 
all  the  education  Scotland  could  then  afford  him, 
and  I  am  ready  to  think  some  forraigne  accessions 
also,  in  France,  wher  the  law  and  languages  wer 
now  taught  in  great  perfection,  upon  the  late  re- 
vival of  learning.""  The  University  of  Aberdeen 


"  Collections,  p.  4. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  125 

claims  the  reformer  as  an  alumnus,  but  the  manu- 
script records  are  not  extant  for  his  date.  Er- 
skine's  subsequent  appearance  as  an  efficient  sold- 
ier shows  that  he  must  also  have  been  carefully 
trained  in  military  exercises,  and  the  opportunities 
which  he  must  have  enjoyed  of  meeting  promi- 
nent people  in  his  uncle's  house,  may  also  be  set 
down  amongst  the  factors  of  his  education. 

Only  a  few  particulars  can  now  be  gleaned 
as  to  the  Eeformer's  youth.  Among  his  friends 
at  this  period  were  two  local  families  which  be- 
came prominent  on  different  sides  of  the  Scottish 
Reformation  —  the  Paniters  and  the  Melvilles. 
It  appears  from  various  documents  that  Erskine, 
while  yet  a  boy,  was  on  close  terms  with  David 
Paniter,  the  Commendator  of  Cambuskenneth, 
and  with  other  members  of  that  influential  fam- 
ily ;  while  on  the  other  hand  the  father  of  Andrew 
Melville  the  famous  Presbyterian  reformer,  was 
one  of  his  curators  in  1526.  Thus  his  young  mind 
probably  received  important  impressions  from 
both  sides  of  the  religious  movement  of  his  times, 
and  it  may  be  that  in  that  way  he  afterwards  came 
to  occupy  his  position  as  a  moderate  reformer." 

According  to  the  custom  of  the  period  Erskine 
was  married  at  an  early  age.  A  contract  of  mar- 
riage, dated  1522,  provides  that  John  Erskine  of 
Dun  is  to  marry  and  have  to  wife  Elizabeth  Lind- 


^«  Eeport  of  M.S.S.  V.  pp.  633-4. 


126  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

say,  daughter  of  David,  Earl  of  Crawford,  when 
ever  ho  should  arrive  at  the  ^^perfeet  age  of  fourteen 
years."  At  this  tender  age,  it  appears  from  the 
same  document,  the  young  Laird  came  into  the 
possession  of  his  lands,'*  and  he  is  to  bestow  upon 
his  sister  Katharine  a  year's  profit  of  the  whole 
of  his  lands  for  her  marriage.  The  eldest  son 
of  this  union,  John  by  name,  succeeded  his  father 
at  an  early  age  as  fiar  or  possessor  of  Dun,  for 
in  the  year  1534-5  Erskine  resigned  to  him  the 
fee  of  the  lands  and  barony,  reserving  his  own 
life-rent,  and  his  wife's  terce.'''  This  curious  cus- 
tom seems  to  have  prevailed  in  the  family,  no 
doubt  for  some  adequate  reason,  and  has  caused 
no  little  confusion  between  the  different  Lairds 
of  Dun."  Besides  the  fiar  there  were  other  sons, 
William,  James,  Thomas,  Alexander,  and  Eobert.'''' 
Erskine  had  hardly  reached  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  when  a  tragic  event  occurred  which  must  have 
cast  a  terrible  gloom  over  his  mind.  In  some  un- 
explained manner  he  was  responsible  for  the 
death  of  a  priest  in  Montrose.  Our  only  informa- 
tion on  this  sad  affair  is  a  document  dated  5th 


^^  Ihid.,  p.  639b.  In  1525  the  customs  of  Montrose  were 
made  over  by  the  Earl  of  Crawford  to  his  son-in-law.  Wod- 
row.     Coll.,  p.  409,  xvii. 

20  Wodrow,  p.  409.       ""  Spalding  Club,  Misc.  IV,  x. 

^^Wodrow,  p.  439.  Erskine's  first  wife  must  have  died 
before  1543,  for  in  that  year  Barbara  Beirle  is  named  as 
his  spouse,  and  as  having  borne  children,  p.  410,  xxiii,  p. 
411,  xxvii. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  127 

February,  1530,  which  narrates  that,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  notary-public  and  witnesses,  the  worthy 
man,  James  Froster,  burger  of  Montrose,  on 
behalf  of  himself,  his  wife  Egidia  Eos,  and 
their  heirs,  etc.,  acknowledged  having  received 
from  John  Erskine  of  Dun,  full  and  complete 
assythment  and  satisfaction  for  the  killing  of 
their  son.  Sir"  William  Froster,  a  chaplain 
within  the  burgh  of  Montrose,  slain  in  the  bell- 
tower  of  the  same."  No  explanation  is  given  how 
the  tragedy  took  place,  nor  is  it  even  said  that 
Erskine  was  responsible  for  the  deed,  but  there 
is  no  question  that  he  was  the  responsible  party. 
It  has,  however,  been  too  easily  assumed  that 
Erskine  was  guilty  of  a  criminal  act."  While 
it  is  true  that  in  the  modem  legal  practice  of 
Scotland  assythment  is  held  to  involve  crime,  in 
earlier  times  this  was  not  always  necessarily  the 
case."  A  homicide  might  pay  assythment,  not 
merely  in  order  to  procure  a  "letter  of  slains"  to 
produce  to  the  king  that  he  might  sue  for  a  royal 
pardon  for  his  crime,  but  also  in  way  of  damages 
for  the  result  of  an  act  of  innocent  intention. 
We  have  now  the  best  possible  evidence  that  Er- 
skine was  in  the  latter  case.  A  very  interesting 
and    important    letter    of    his    was    discovered 


^*A  common  designation  of  priests  before  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

^^e.g.,  Hume  Brown,  I,  299.    Lang,  p.  63. 
"See  Appendix  D.  on  Assythment, 


128  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

about  1876  in  which  he  gives  James  VI.  an  ac- 
count  of  his  career  as  it  presented  itself  to  him 
at  the  end  of  his  life,  hoping,  as  he  says,  that  ere 
a  year  be  passed  he  ^^sal  be  delyverit  fra  the  bond- 
age of  corruptione."  In  it  these  remarkable  words 
occur:  ^^I  haif  ever  bein  obedient  to  your  Majes- 
ties lawes,  ordinances,  and  proclamationes.  I  haif 
usit  me  sua  that  my  nychtbouris  complenit  nocht 
on  me.  I  wes  never  accusit  for  cryme  hefoir  your 
graces  justice,  I  tuih  never  remissione  for  ony 
offence,  in  respect  of  the  quhilk  your  Majestic 
aucht  the  mair  to  regaird  me."^^ 

The  references  to  crime  and  remission  ob- 
viously refer  to  Froster's  death,  and  shew  that  to 
the  end  of  his  life  Erskine's  memories  of  it  were 
keen,  and  perhaps  bitter.  It  may  well  be  that 
slanderous  accounts"  of  the  affair  had  been  circu- 
lated by  his  enemies,  to  his  intense  pain.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  the  death  of  Froster  was  caused 
by  no  guilty  act,  but  was  probably  either  the  result 
of  a  sheer  accident,  or  the  untimely  outcome  of 
a  young  man's  foolish  prank." 

It  has  been  conjectured  that  immediately  after 
this  untimely  event,  Erskine  travelled  abroad  for 
some  time,  and  thereby  came  in  contact  with  re- 


2«  Report  M.S.S.,  V,  636. 

"Compare  for  slanders  of  Knox,  Hume-Brown,  II,  303. 

**  Amongst  the  traditions  of  Aberdeen  University  is  that 
of  "Downie's  slauchter,"  in  which  the  death  of  a  college 
servant  was  caused  by  fright  in  the  course  of  a  mock  trial. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  129 

formed  opinions  on  the  Continent.  Of  this  we 
have  no  direct  proof,  but  various  royal  licenses 
granted  to  Erskine  at  somewhat  later  dates  to 
travel  on  the  Continent  for  lengthened  periods, 
make  the  supposition  a  likely  one/^  Had  he  indeed 
availed  himself  to  the  full  of  the  permissions 
granted,  Erskine  would  have  spent  at  home  only 
a  small  portion  of  the  years  from  1540  to  1550, 
but  we  shall  see  that  this  was  not  the  case. 

Before  this  period,  however,  the  Laird  of  Dun 
was  known  as  a  friend  of  the  new  opinions.  In 
the  year  1534,  David  Stratoun,  a  brother  of  the 
Laird  of  Lauriston  in  Kincardineshire,  was  burnt 
in  Edinburgh  for  heresy.  Of  him  it  is  related 
that  his  conversion  had  completely  changed  his 
character  from  stubbornness  and  carelessness  to- 
wards religion,  to  piety  and  gentleness.  In  this 
connection  we  are  told  that  "he  frequented  much 
the  company  of  the  Lard  of  Dun,  whome  God,  in 
those  dayis,  had  marvelouslie  illuminated." '° 
Whether  Erskine  had  imbibed  his  new  religious 
views  in  a  previous  residence  among  foreign  re- 
formers, or  whether  the  facilities  afforded  by  the 

^In  1542  two  separate  licenses  were  granted  to  Erskine 
and  a  party  of  friends  to  travel  into  France,  Italy,  or 
any  other  parts  beyond  the  sea  for  two  years  in  the  one 
case,  and  for  three  years  in  the  other.  In  1545-6  he  was 
permitted  to  travel  abroad  for  five  years.  Hist.  M.S.S. 
Report,  V,  639-640.  In  the  Spalding  Miscellany  (IV,  30), 
the  second  of  these  three  licenses  is  dated  1537. 

'« Knox's  Works,  I,  59. 


130  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

neighbouring  port  of  Montrose  for  hearing  the  news 
and  acquiring  the  literature  of  the  reformation 
movement  on  the  Continent  sufficiently  explain  his 
position,  he  stands  out  at  the  age  of  twenty-five 
as  an  eminent  champion  of  religious  reform.  It 
may  well  be,  as  Wodrow  says,  that  at  this  time 
the  house  of  Dun  was  "a  little  sanctuary"  to  those 
who  wanted  safety  and  protection,  while  his  con- 
versation was  very  useful  to  such  as  needed  not 
shelter."  One  result  of  Erskine's  residence 
abroad  had  a  remarkable  influence  upon  the  ref- 
ormation movement,  the  introduction  of  a  learned 
Frenchman,  Petrus  de  Marsiliers,  as  teacher  of 
Greek  in  the  school  of  Montrose.  Up  to  this 
period  Greek  was  "nocht  heard  of  before"  in  Scot- 
land," and  amongst  the  pupils  whom  the  new  study 
attracted  were  two  who  afterwards  left  their  mark 
in  different  ways  upon  the  religious  changes  of 
Scotland.  One  was  George  Wishart,  whose  in- 
fluence afterwards  upon  the  religious  awakening 
of  John  Knox  was  so  great,  and  the  other  was 
Andrew  Melville,  the  real  founder  of  Presby- 
terianism  in  Scotland. 


^*  Collections,  p.  7. 

^^  James  Melville's  diary,  p.  31.  Dr.  Morland  Simpson 
however  points  out  that  in  1540  young  scholars  of  Aberdeen 
delivered  Greek  orations  in  the  presence  of  King  James,  a 
fact  which  may  presuppose  that  Greek  was  taught  in 
Aberdeen  long  before  1534.  Bon  Record,  1906,  pp.  viii 
and  ix. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  131 

When  Wishart,  after  six  years'  residence  in 
England,  Germany,  and  Switzerland,  returned  to 
Scotland  in  1544  or  1545,  he  naturally  included 
Montrose  among  the  scenes  of  his  ministrations, 
and  doubtless  found  a  refuge  in  the  house  of  Dun. 
Knox  informs  us  that  it  was  "sore  against  the 
judgment  of  the  Lard  of  Dune"  *'  that  Wishart 
started  out  on  his  last  preaching  campaign.  As 
we  shall  see,  Erskine  was  on  intimate  terms  with 
Cardinal  Beaton  at  the  time,  and  could  foresee 
some,  if  not  all,  of  the  consequences  which  were 
to  follow.  However,  his  remonstrances  were  of  no 
avail,  and  Wishart  proceeded  to  Lothian.  Knox, 
inflamed  by  his  preaching,  now  appeared  as  an 
adherent  of  the  reformed  opinions,  carrying  at 
least  on  one  occasion  the  two-handed  sword  which 
apparently  belonged  to  Wishart.**  Then  the  tragic 
chain  of  events  took  place.  Wishart  was  seized, 
tried,  and  executed.  Beaton  was  murdered  in  the 
castle  of  St.  Andrews  two  months  later,  and  Knox 
joined  the  company  of  the  murderers  in  the  castle. 
The  castle  was  besieged  and  taken  by  the  help  of 
the  French,  and  Knox  and  his  companions  were 
carried  away  to  the  prisons  and  the  galleys  of 
France.  How  different  all  might  have  been  had 
Wishart  listened  to  the  Laird  of  Dun!  There 
might  have  been  one  Protestant  martyr  the  less, 
Beaton  might  not  have  succumbed  to  the  disgrace- 


«»  Works,  I,  132.       «*  I,  139. 


132  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

ful  schemes  of  England  against  his  life,  and  for 
all  that  we  know,  John  Knox  might  have  remained 
to  the  end  of  his  days  an  obscure  priest  of  the 
diocese  of  St.  Andrews. 

To  Erskine  the  situation  must  have  been  pe- 
culiarly painful.  If  Wishart's  death  deprived 
him  of  a  dear  friend,  united  to  him  both  by  local 
ties  and  religious  sympathies,  the  loss  of  Beaton, 
the  last  great  champion  of  patriotic  resistance  to 
England,  must  have  also  been  a  severe  blow  to 
him.  In  a  letter  to  Erskine,  written  less  than 
two  years  before  his  murder,  the  Cardinal  refers 
with  appreciation  to  the  loyalty  of  his  "rycht  hon- 
orable and  traist  cousing,"  and  to  his  efforts  to 
procure  that  of  his  great  friends,  promising  to 
^^procure  and  fortifie"  his  higher  honour  and  weal, 
and  those  of  his  house  and  friends.*'  From  this,  as 
well  as  from  the  narrative  which  follows,  it  is 
clear  that  Erskine  still  shared  in  the  political 
views  which  then  prevailed  in  Scotland.  While 
there  was  a  strong  party  in  favour  of  an  alliance 
with  England,'"  the  main  sentiment  of  the  country 
was  in  favour  of  the  ancient  friendship  with 
France,  and  against  the  "auld  enemy''  across  the 
border.  Later  on  the  tide  of  feeling  turned,  with 
important  results  for  the  success  of  the  Reforma- 
tion movement,  but  as  yet  a  man  of  Erskine's  re- 
ligious sympathies  might,  from  purely  patriotic 

»^  Report  M.S.S.  Com.  V.  635  Spald.  Mis.  IV,  45. 
»« Hume  Brown,  I,  269  n.  2. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  133 

motivesj  be  found  on  the  side  of  the  country  whose 
influence  was  the  greatest  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
religious  reform. 

We  need  not  therefore  be  surprised  to  find 
that  while  Knox  was  languishing  as  a  prisoner  in 
a  French  galley,  Erskine  was  winning  renown  as 
a  soldier  in  a  campaign  conducted  by  French  troops 
in  Scotland.  In  a  letter  which  has  already  been 
referred  to,"  he  thus  describes  his  services  at  this 
time :  "In  the  weires  we  had  with  Ingland,  quhen 
the  Inglis  men  possessit  Dondie,  Bruchtie  Craig 
and  the  forth  thair,  I  defendit  the  centre  at  my 
power  fra  their  invasiones,  at  the  desire  of  the 
queinis  grace  regent,  and  Duck  of  Chatilroy,** 
thane  gouernor.  A  biggit  ane  forth  [fort]  in 
Montrois,  tuik  up  ane  gret  number  of  men  of  weir 
for  a  lang  time  and  furnisit  all  of  my  awin 
guidis,  sua  that  the  sowmes  debursit  by  me  ex- 
ceidit  tuentie  thousand  markis  as  the  comptis  buir, 
and  yet  may  be  sein."  ** 

The  situation  which  had  arisen  was  as  follows : 
An  English  force  of  18,000  men  had  invaded  Scot- 
land little  more  than  a  month  after  the  capture 
of  the  Castle  of  St.  Andrews,  in  order  to  force  a 

*^  See  page  127. 

**  Chatelheralt,  formerly  Earl  of  Arran. 

«« Report.  M.S.S.  Com.,  V,  636.  A  letter  of  Mary  of 
Guise  to  Erskine,  dated  11th  Jan.,  1547-8,  conveys  her 
sense  of  the  importance  of  his  services,  and  her  thanks  for 
his  having  "chosin  the  best  part."  Spalding  Club  Misc.,  IV, 
p.  48.    Cf.,  49,  and  50. 


134  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

marriage  between  the  boy  King  Edward  VI.  and 
the  young  Scottish  Queen  Mary.  The  disastrous 
battle  of  Pinkie  had  paralysed  the  Scottish  de- 
fence and  enabled  the  English  to  occupy  Hadding- 
ton and  other  strong  situations.  In  this  extremity 
recourse  was  had  to  France,  with  two  important 
results.  A  French  army  arrived  in  Scotland,  and 
the  little  Queen  of  Scots  was  sent  for  safety  to 
France,  as  the  Dauphin's  destined  bride. 

In  the  military  events  which  followed,  and 
which  eventually  resulted  in  the  withdrawal  of 
the  English  troops,*"  Erskine  played  a  gallant  part. 
His  name  appears  again  and  again  with  words  of 
cordial  praise  in  the  chronicle  of  a  Frenchman 
who  accompanied  the  expedition,"  and  we  may 
infer  that  the  Scottish  Laird  was  a  favourite  in 
the  camp  of  his  Gallic  comrades.  He  seems  at 
first  to  have  been  attached  to  the  intelligence  de- 
partment of  the  French  force,"  but  we  soon  find 
him  in  the  thick  of  the  fighting  which  took  place 
around  the  stronghold  of  Haddington.*'  Erskine 
and  Lord  Hume,  at  the  head  of  the  troops  which 
they  had  led  to  the  war,  distinguished  themselves 
in  several  fierce  cavalry  charges,  and,  as  the  chron- 
icler says,  proved  themselves  Scottish  gentlemen 
of  loyalty  and  valour.     "Very  few  men,"  he  says 


*"  After  the  peace  of  Boulogne,  in  April  1550. 
*^  Historie  de  la  guerre  d'Ecosse,  1548  et  1549,  par  Jean 
de  Beaugu6.     (Maitland  Club  publications,  1830.) 
«pp.  11,  15,  35.        "pp.  45,  46. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  135 

with  true  French  politeness^  ^Vill  you  find  in  the 
whole  world  equipped  with  greater  prowess,  more 
valiant  and  experienced  in  war."  ** 

It  was,  however,  at  his  own  town  of  Montrose 
that  Erskine  performed  his  most  signal  exploit 
against  the  English.  He  had  been  invalided  home 
at  a  critical  juncture  of  the  campaign.  The  Eng- 
lish fleet  had  taken  the  opportunity  while  the  land 
forces  were  engaged,  of  making  a  raid  upon  the 
northern  coasts.  Erskine  seems,  however,  to  have 
had  early  notice  of  their  intention,  and  all  his  way 
home  he  raised  the  country  by  causing  alarm  fires 
to  be  lighted.**  On  arriving  at  Montrose  he 
promptly  took  measures  to  defend  the  town,  and 
the  fertile  "Howe  o'  the  Mearns"  behind  it.  Ill 
as  he  was,  he  visited  the  fort  nightly,  to  see  that 
all  was  in  order,  and  spared  himself  in  no  way 
for,  as  he  often  said,  "Men  of  honour,  being  obliged 
to  fear  shame,  are  also  bound  not  to  shun  dangers 
and  troubles."  *^  In  his  double  capacity  as  Pro- 
vost of  Montrose  and  Constable*'  of  the  fort,  he 
was  the  natural  leader  of  the  countryside,  and  the 
town  of  Dundee  sent  one  hundred  soldiers  to  his 
assistance,  and  ordered  the  burghers  to  watch  and 
ward  with  him  as  he  should  direct." 


**  p.  56.     *^  V^odrow's  Coll.,  p.  428  n.     "«  Beagu6,  p.  66. 

*^H€  is  mentioned  as  Provost  in  Jan.  1451,  and  in  Feb. 
of  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  by  his  uncle  to  the  con- 
stabulary, with  its  lands,  fishing,  etc.  Wodrow,  pp,  409, 
410.  *»  Wodrow,  p.  429. 


136  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Erskine's  vigilance  was  rewarded  when,  one 
night,  the  lights  of  the  approaching  ships 
were  seen.  He  promptly  made  his  preparations 
in  such  a  way  as  not  to  undeceive  a  foe  that  ex- 
pected little  or  no  opposition  to  their  landing. 
Dividing  his  forces  into  three  parties,  he  adopted 
a  strategy  similar  to  that  of  Bruce  at  Bannock- 
burn.  The  least  effective  part  of  his  men  he  posted 
behind  a  neighbouring  hill,  while  a  second  band 
was  hidden  behind  the  defences  of  the  fort.  Put- 
ting himself  at  the  head  of  the  main  body,  the 
Constable  cleverly  drew  the  invaders  within  reach 
of  his  reserves  in  the  fort,  and  then  at  the  proper 
moment  the  hidden  band  of  undisciplined  servants 
and  others  shewed  themselves.  Terrified  at  the 
sight,  the  English  fled  to  their  ships,  leaving  hun- 
dreds of  their  fellows  dead,  and  Dun  was  left 
"with  the  glory  of  a  victory  that  was  owing  not 
only  to  valour  and  vigilancy,  but  to  a  nice  piece 
of  martial  cunning."  " 

The  value  of  this  episode  is  that  it  reveals  in 
a  striking  way  some  important  qualities  of  Ers- 
kine's  character.  Beneath  his  gentle  manner  and 
his  conciliatory  disposition  there  were  other  ele- 
ments which  historians  of  the  Reformation  have 
scarcely  perceived.  He  was  certainly  not  the  fa- 
cile and  easily  persuaded  personage  whom  Presby- 
terian writers  have  sometimes  represented  him  to 

"  Beaugu^,  p.   65.     Buchanan  Opera  Ed.  Ruddiman,  I, 
301,  Bowicks  Life,  pp.  59-67. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  137 

have  been.  His  personal  courage/^  his  dash  and 
vigour,  his  vigilance  and  his  resource  alike  con- 
demn these  suggestions,  and  give  us  the  right  clue 
to  the  nature  of  his  work  as  a  reformer. 

Of  the  details  of  that  work  during  the  next 
few  years  we  have  no  information,  but  when 
Knox  "  visited  Scotland  in  1555,  after  a  busy  and 
tumultuous  career  as  a  reformer  in  England  and 
on  the  Continent,  he  was  amazed  at  the  change 
which  had  taken  place.  ^^If  I  had  not  seen  it 
with  my  eyes  in  my  own  country,"  he  writes,  "I 
could  not  have  believed  it."  ''  'Not  only  had  the 
number  of  adherents  of  the  new  views  increased," 
but  their  fervency  far  exceeded  "all  others"  that 
he  had  seen.  In  Edinburgh  he  lodged  at  the  house 
of  one  James  Syme,  and  began  to  preach  there  in 
secret.  Among  his  auditors  were,  he  informs  us, 
the  Laird  of  Dun,  who  soon  took  occasion  to  bring 
about  a  notable  conference  on  an  important  part 
of  Knox's  teaching.  Up  to  that  time  many  who 
were  zealous  in  the  cause  had  not  scrupled  to  at- 
tend Mass,  but  Knox  denounced  this  course,  as 
communication    with    idolatry.     Erskine    accord- 


°^  Spottiswoode  remarks  on  his  "singular  courage."  His- 
tory, II,  412. 

^^  Knox  is  our  principal  informant  as  to  Dun. 

'^^^  Works,  IV,  217,  218. 

'^'A  little  before  Knox's  arrival  the  faithful  in  Edin- 
burgh had  been  formed  into  one  congregation  by  Erskine's 
advice,  and  he  taught  them  sometimes  in  private  houses. 
Wodrow.     Collections,  p.  12. 


138  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

ingly  held  a  supper  party  to  give  Knox  an  oppor- 
tunity of  discussing  the  matter  with  David  For- 
rest, Robert  Lockhart,  John  Willock,  and  Maitland 
of  Lethington.  According  to  Knox,  he  gained  his 
point,  for  ^^the  Messe  began  to  be  abhorred  of  such 
as  befoir  used  it  for  the  f assioun,  and  avoiding  of 
sclander  (as  then  thei  termed  it).""* 

After  this  momentous  decision  had  been  ar- 
rived at,  Knox  visited  Erskine  at  his  place  of  Dun, 
where  he  remained  a  month,  daily  exercising  in 
doctrine,  to  which,  he  informs  us,  resorted  the 
principal  men  of  that  part  of  the  country.""  Later 
on  he  paid  a  second  visit  to  Dun,  where  he  not 
only  preached  in  greater  liberty,  but  ministered 
^Hhe  Table  of  the  Lord  Jesus"  to  the  greater  part 
of  the  gentlemen  of  the  Mearns."^ 

By  this  time,  however,  Knox's  doings  had  come 
to  the  ears  of  the  Church  authorities,  and  he  was 
summoned  to  appear  in  the  Church  of  the  Black 
Friars  in  Edinburgh.  The  trial,  however,  was 
never  held,  for  Erskine,  ^Vith  diverse  otheris 
gentilmen"  accompanied  their  preacher  to  Edin- 
burgh, ready  to  support  him  before  his  judges, 
and  the  courage  of  the  Bishops  failed  them  at  the 
last  moment."  Knox,  in  spite  of  this  triumph, 
considered  that  his  work  lay  in  Geneva,  and  in 
July,  1556,  he  returned  to  his  flock  there.  That 
Erskine's  boldness  in  sheltering  Knox  and  cham- 


""^  Works,  I,  246-8.       ''^  p.  249.        '«p.  250.  "I,  251. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  139 

pioning  his  cause  brought  him  into  no  disrepute 
in  high  quarters  is  shewn  by  his  appearance  as 
Justice-depute  at  a  "Justice-aire"  held  in  Elgin 
in  the  month  following.'^  As  the  holder  of  a 
barony,  he  had  the  power  of  pit  and  gallows  within 
his  own  jurisdiction,  but  here  we  see  him  employed 
as  a  judge  in  another  capacity.  The  cases  with 
which  he  had  to  deal  seem  to  have  been  of  a  trivial 
character. 

As  the  current  of  the  Reformation  begins  to 
flow  more  strongly  and  swiftly,  Erskine's  position 
as  a  reformer  becomes  more  clearly  defined.  He 
was  one  of  those  who  in  1557  signed  the  first  bond 
of  the  Lords  of  the  congregation  (as  the  leading 
reformers  were  now  called),  whereby  they  pledged 
themselves  to  defend  the  Reformation  with  their 
substance  and  their  lives.'**  In  1558  he  became 
an  exhorter  or  lay  preacher  of  the  ^Trivy  Kirk," 
and  apparently  an  elder  as  well.*''  At  the  same 
time  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  sent  to 
France  to  arrange  the  marriage  of  Queen  Mary  in 
1557,  while  two  years  later  he  was  appointed 
factor,  "because  of  his  faith,  conscience,  and  piety 
towards  the  poor,"  of  the  Blackfriars'  monastery 


"Pitcairn's  Criminal  trials,  I,  389. 

59  ^orks,  I,   273.     The  other  signatories  mentioned  are 
the  Earls  of  Argyle,  Glencairn,  Morton,  and  Lord  Lome. 
«« Works,  I,  300. 


140  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

in  Montrose,  which  had  been  raided,  the  property 
of  which  was  now  to  be  given  to  the  poor/' 

What  may  be  called  the  first  crisis  of  the  Scot- 
tish Reformation  took  place  in  that  year  and  the 
following  one.  A  last  effort  had  been  made  by  the 
party  of  Catholic  reform,  in  the  shape  of  certain 
articles  of  reformation  drawn  up  by  a  number  of 
influential  laymen  and  submitted  to  the  last  Pro- 
vincial Council  held  in  Scotland.  ITo  drastic 
change  was  demanded,  except  reform  in  the  lives 
and  labours  of  the  Bishops  and  clergy.  However, 
this  last  chance  of  reforming  and  yet  saving  the 
Church  was  lost.  A  number  of  the  familiar  in- 
effective canons  were  drawn  up,  and  some  Protes- 
tant preachers  were  banned  for  administering  the 
Sacraments.  Then  it  would  seem  as  if  Erskine 
and  the  reformers  in  his  district  lost  patience,  or 
despaired  of  a  pacific  reform.  The  Protestant 
preachers  had  been  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  Justiciary  Court  in  Stirling  on  May  10th,  and 
just  as  Erskine  had  some  years  ago  led  a  band  of 
Fifeshire  gentlemen  to  Edinburgh  in  defence  of 
Knox,  so  now  he  seems  to  have  been  the  leader  in 
a  still  more  important  demonstration.  It  is  not 
Knox's  way  to  make  anyone  but  himself  the  central 


«i  Letter  of  Francis  and  Mary.  Hist.  M.S.S.  Report, 
V,  640.  The  language  of  the  letter  itself  however,  suggests 
a  later  date  than  Feb.  1559,  but  see  below. 

In  1567  one  of  the  Reformer's  sons,  Alexander,  received 
a  "tack"  of  this  property.    Wodrow,  p.  410. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  141 

figure  of  the  Eeformation,  but  when  he  tells  us 
that  the  town  of  Dundee  and  the  gentlemen  of 
Angus  and  Mearns''  were  the  demonstrators,  we 
can  have  little  doubt  as  to  who  was  the  leader  in 
the  expedition*'  to  Perth. 

Both  sides  were  unwilling  to  precipitate  a  con- 
flict, and  Erskine  appears  prominently  in  the  ne- 
gotiations which  took  place.  ^^Zealous,  prudent,  and 
Godly  man,"  as  Knox  declares  him  to  have  been, 
he  shewed  also  his  personal  courage  and  his  desire 
for  peace  by  going  to  the  Queen  Eegent  at  Stirling 
to  declare  that  he  and  his  friends  were  there  for 
the  purpose  only  of  giving  confession  with  the 
preachers,  and  of  assisting  them  in  their  just  de- 
fence.** The  Eegent,  according  to  Knox,  set  her- 
self to  ^^craft"  with  Erskine,  who,  as  "a  man  most 
gentle  of  nature,  and  most  addict  to  please  her  in 
all  things  not  repugnant  to  God,"  wrote  to  his 
fellow-reformers  in  Perth,  advising  them  not  to 
come  to  Stirling.  When,  however,  the  preachers 
were  outlawed,  Erskine  prudently  withdrew  from 
the  royal  city,  and  joined  his  fellows  at  Perth. 

Thus  when  Knox  arrived  from  abroad  and 
reached  that  town,  what  was  practically  a  state  of 
civil  war  was  in  existence,  and  Erskine  and  other 


''1,  317. 

®^Knox  assures  us  that  they  were  unarmed,  but  this  is 
far  from  likely. 

®*He  also  wrote  a  letter  of  protest  to  the  Regent.  See 
below  page  154. 


142  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

leaders  were  deeply  committed  to  a  struggle  the 
outcome  of  which  no  one  could  foresee.  Knox's 
main  contribution  to  the  situation  was  the  stirring 
up  of  the  "rascal  multitude"  to  the  rabbling  of  the 
ecclesiastical  buildings  in  Perth.  At  that  period 
there  was  an  enormous  number  of  sturdy  beggars 
in  Scotland  who  wandered  over  the  whole  country 
and  were  a  standing  menace  to  society.  Naturally 
they  flocked  to  Perth  when  the  news  spread  as  to 
what  was  going  on,  and  proved  themselves  most 
admirable  auditors  to  Knox's  fiery  denunciations 
of  idolatry.''  A  riot  took  place  in  the  Church  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist  after  the  reformer  had 
preached,  and  for  two  days  the  mob  ravaged  and 
pillaged  at  their  will.  For  the  time  being  these 
new  converts  to  Protestantism  were  deeply  at- 
tached to  their  leader,  and  wherever  Knox  went, 
he  left  a  trail  of  destruction  behind  him.  It  has 
been  claimed  for  Knox  that  he  tried,  although  in 
vain,  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  Scone  Abbey, 
and  doubtless  he  and  "men  of  greatest  estimation" 
did,  as  he  says,  labour  with  all  diligence  for  the 
safety  of  it.***  The  reason,  however,  of  their  un- 
usual diligence  on  this  occasion  was  probably  not 


•'^Knox  is  not  quite  disingenuous  in  this  connection, 
however.  While  he  lays  the  blame  on  the  "rascal  multitude" 
in  his  History,  in  a  private  letter  written  at  the  time,  he 
describes  the  destruction  as  the  work  of  "the  brethren." 
Works,  VI,  23. 

«« I,  362. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  143 

unconnected  with  the  fact  that  no  less  a  person 
than  Erskine  of  Dun  was  the  lease-holder  of  Scone, 
and  for  all  that  one  knows,  likely  to  be  a  large 
loser  himself  by  the  reforming  zeal  of  the  mob/^ 
In  the  negotiations  with  the  Queen  Eegent 
which  followed,  Erskine  took  a  leading  part,^^  and 
in  June  we  find  him  at  St.  Andrews  in  the  com- 
pany of  Knox,  to  whose  efforts  the  ^^reformation'' 
of  that  town  a  few  days  after  their  arrival  may  be 
set  down/"  He  attended  with  other  reformers  the 
"communing  at  Preston,'"*  and  when  the  bold  step 
was  taken  of  disowning  allegiance  to  the  Queen 
Kegent,  Erskine  signed  the  document  as  one  of  the 
Barons/'  The  arrival  of  additional  troops  from 
France  in  her  support  made  it  necessary  to  appeal 
to  England  for  help,  and  Erskine's  name  is  one 
of  those  appended  to  the  letter  of  instructions  to 
the  commissioners  who  went  to  Berwick  to  treat 
with  the  representatives  of  Elizabeth."  By  the 
aid  of  English  gold,  English  arms,  and  an  English 


«^See  Hist.  M.S.S.  Com.,  V,  p.  640,  no.  61.  Lease  of 
the  Abbey  of  Scone  for  19  years  to  Erskine,  by  Patrik, 
Bishop  of  Moray  and  Commendator  of  Scone,  1546-7. 
Erskine  seems  to  have  had  a  lease  of  the  Deanery  of  Aber- 
deen in  1564.     Wodrow,  p.  411. 

•8  Knox,  I,  337,  341.        ««I,  346.         '«I,  369. 

^^I,  451.  The  other  signatories  were,  the  Earls  of  Ar- 
ran,  Argyle,  Glencairn,  Lord  James  Stewart,  Lord  Ruth- 
ven,  The  Master  of  Maxwell,  the  Lairds  of  Tullibardine 
and  Pitarrow^  the  provost  of  Aberdeen. 

^=^11,  56. 


144  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

fleet,  the  reformers  were  now  able  to  contend  on 
equal  terms  with  Mary  of  Lorraine's  French  and 
Scottish  forces.  This  strange  phase  of  the  Scottish 
Reformation  was,  however,  terminated  bj  the  Re- 
gent's death,  and  the  subsequent  treaty  of  Edin- 
burgh, by  which  it  was  agreed  that  the  religious 
questions  at  issue  should  be  settled  at  a  meeting  of 
Parliament,  beginning  on  the  first  of  August, 
1560,  subject  to  the  confirmation  of  Queen  Mary 
and  her  husband. 

The  reformers,  representing  though  they  did 
only  a  minority  of  the  people  of  Scotland,  lost  no 
time  in  settling  matters  as  far  as  they  could." 
Ministers  were  appointed  to  Edinburgh,  St.  An- 
drews, Aberdeen,  Perth,  Jedburgh,  Dundee,  Dun- 
fermline, and  Perth,  Knox  being  placed  in  charge 
of  the  faithful  in  the  capital  city.  Superintend- 
ents were  also  appointed  to  the  charge  of  various 
districts,  to  administer  discipline  and  to  further 
the  spread  of  the  Reformation,  Willock  to  Glas- 
gow, Erskine  to  Angus  and  Mearns,^*  Carswell  to 
Argyle  and  the  Isles,  Spottiswoode,  father  of  the 
future  Archbishop,  to  Lothian,  and  Winram  to 
Fife. 

As  Erskine  was  a  layman  when  appointed  to 
this  office,  and  as  the  superintendents  have  been 


^'  They  seem  even  to  have  published  Protestant  mani- 
festoes in  the  name  of  Francis  and  Mary.  Wodrow,  pp.  18, 
321-2. 

'*The  shires  of  Forfar  and  Kincardine. 


8G0TTI8H  CHURCH  HISTORY  146 

for  centuries  a  fruitful  theme  of  controversy,  it  is 
of  great  interest  to  read  our  reformer's  opinions 
on  the  subject.  In  the  first  place  he  seems  to 
have  distinguished  between  an  ordinary  and  an 
extraordinary  ministry  in  the  Church.  A  letter 
which  appears  to  have  been  written  by  him  to  the 
Queen  Regent  at  the  beginning"  of  the  struggle 
which  has  been  briefly  described,  contains  these 
remarkable  words:  ^^Howbeit  God  has  appointed 
in  the  Kirk  ordinary  vocation  to  continue,  yet  is 
He  not  Himself  so  astricted  thereunto,  but  he  may 
and  does  send  oft  times  persons  called  hy  Himself 
extraordinarily,  and  that  happens  most  commonly 
when  the  ordinary  ministers  are  corrupt."  To 
such  a  defence  of  the  preachers,  admitting  as  it 
did  the  position  of  the  unreformed  clergy,  Knox 
would  hardly  have  subscribed,  and  we  may  infer 
that  the  letter  was  despatched  before  his  arrival  in 
Perth.  It  throws  an  important  light,  however, 
upon  Erskine's  acceptance  of  this  office.  He  was 
not,  in  his  own  estimation,  a  layman  masquerading 
as  a  cleric,  but  one  who,  like  the  prophets  of  old, 
had  received  an  extraordinary  commission  from 
God  Himself.  On  the  other  point,  the  nature  of 
the  office  of  superintendent,  Erskine's  opinions 
were  expressed  with  equal  clearness,  in  a  letter 
of  the  year  1571 :  ^^To  the  office  of  a  Bishop  per- 


''  6th  May,  1559.     Spalding  Club  Misc.,  IV,  88. 


146  BIOaRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

taineth  examination  and  admission  to  spiritual 
cure  and  office,  and  also  to  oversee  them  that  are 
admitted,  that  they  walk  uprightly,  and  also 
exercise  their  office  faithfully  and  purely.  To 
take  this  power  from  a  Bishop  or  superintendent, 
is  to  take  away  the  office  of  a  Bishop,  that  no 
Bishop  he  in  the  Kirk,  which  were  to  alter  and 
abolish  the  order  that  God  hath  appointed  in  his 
Kirk.  ...  I  understand  a  Bishop  and  a  superin- 
tendent to  be  but  one  office,  and  where  the  one  is, 
the  other  is.'' '" 

That  this  conception  differs  entirely  from  the 
account  of  the  superintendents  given  by  Knox  in 
his  version  of  the  Book  of  Discipline  is,  of  course, 
incontestable.  According  to  Knox,  a  difference 
was  made  among  the  preachers  only  for  a  time,  to 
meet  the  peculiar  difficulties  of  the  situation.  Yet 
it  is  remarkable  to  find  that  even  in  the  scheme 
given  by  Knox,  the  superintendents  were  each 
appointed  to  a  "diocese,"  and  that  the  following 
apparently  inconsistent  provision  occurs :  ''In  this 
present  necessitie,   the  nomination,   examination. 


^^Wodrow's  Collections,  pp.  37  and  39.  The  worthy 
Wodrow  makes  the  following  extraordinary  deduction  from 
the  letter  (p.  42).  "It  is  very  plain  by  this  letter,  that 
in  the  Superintendent's  judgment,  Bishops,  Superintend- 
ents, Pastors  and  Ministers,  were  one  and  the  same  office." 
He  is  not  by  any  means  the  only  Scottish  writer  who  has 
faced  the  facts  of  history  with  a  veil  over  his  eyes. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  147 

and  admission  of  superintendents  cannot  be  so 
strait  as  we  require,  and  as  afterward  it  must 
he/' "  Archbishop  Spottiswoode,  too,  in  his  His- 
tory, omits  in  his  version  of  the  Book  of  Discipline 
the  references  which  point  to  the  temporary  ap- 
pointment of  the  superintendents,  and  as  the  son 
of  a  superintendent,  he  must  have  had  excellent 
information/*  On  the  whole,  therefore,  one  is  in- 
clined either  to  turn  against  Knox  the  criticism 
which  David  Laing  uttered  against  Spottiswoode 
in  this  connection,  ^^that  implicit  reliance  should 
not  be  placed  on  [his]  fidelity,"  '*  or  to  suppose 
that  two  versions  of  the  Book  of  Discipline  were 
current,  representing  the  views  respectively  of  the 
moderate  men  and  of  the  extremists.^ 

To  complete  our  account  of  the  superintend- 
ents, their  name  may  have  been  suggested  by  the 
German  Superattendenten  or  Superintendent  en, 
who  were  permanent  officials  charged  with  eccle- 
siastical supervision/^  The  number  of  superin- 
tendents in  Scotland  is  believed  never  to  have  been 
extended  beyond  the  original  five,  and  yet  one  is 
perplexed  to  find  in  a  document  of  1569,  seven 
superintendents  mentioned,  among  whom  are  Knox 


"  See  Works,  II,  pp.  201,  203,  205.       '^  Vol.  I,  p.  342. 
^»  Knox's  Works,  II,  589. 

®^It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  Book  of  DiscipUne 
never  was  accepted. 

®^  Hume  Brown.    Life  of  Knox,  II,  133. 


148  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  three  others  not  of  the  original  number.'*  Be- 
yond the  essential  fact  that  they  lacked  consecra- 
tion, the  superintendents  were  very  different  from 
Bishops  in  respect  that  they  were  subject  to  the 
discipline  of  the  Kirk,  and  liable  to  be  removed 
from  office. 

When  Parliament  met,  the  knell  of  the  eccle- 
siastical system  which  had  prevailed  in  Scotland 
for  more  than  four  centuries  was  sounded.  A 
Calvinistic  confession  of  faith,  declaring  the  Kirk 
to  be  invisible,  and  known  only  to  God,  was  ac- 
cepted,** the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope  was  abol- 
ished, and  the  celebration  of  the  Mass  prohibited 
under  penalties  of  confiscation,  exile,  and  death, 
for  the  first,  second,  and  third  offence,  while  the 
Bishops  and  other  prelates  were  forbidden  to  use 
jurisdiction  in  time  to  come  by  the  Bishop  of 
Eome's  authority.**  The  office  of  Bishop,  be  it  ob- 
served, was  not  abolished,  and  the  door  was  thus 
left  open  for  the  episcopate  to  join  the  reformers. 
A  few  months  later  the  Book  of  Discipline,  contain- 
ing the  new  polity,  ecclesiastical,  educational,  and 


«2Hist.  M.S.S.  Commission,  VI,  645-6.  The  document 
is  a  copy  of  an  assignation  of  money  and  oats  by  the  su- 
perintendents for  the  Regent's  house,  and  bears  to  be  sub- 
scribed by  the  superintendent's  hands,  ut  infra  Erskine, 
Winram  and  Spottiswoode,  Andrew  Hay,  John  Knox,  David 
Lindsay.     Robert  Pont  agrees  etc. 

^  Works,  II,  p.  109.  Acts  Pari.  Scot.,  Vol.  II,  24th 
Aug.,  1560. 

8*11,  p.  125. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  149 

social,  of  the  invisible  Kirk  was  presented  to  Par- 
liament, but  although  subscribed  by  many  indi- 
vidual nobles  and  barons,  it  did  not  pass  into  law. 
Its  framers  seem  to  have  expected  that  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  old  Church  would  straightway  pass 
into  the  custody  of  the  new  establishment,  but  their 
hopes  were  rudely  disappointed.  Knox  found  that 
to  pull  down  and  destroy  was  one  thing,  but  to 
build  up  quite  another. 

In  truth  the  Kirk  invisible  found  at  first  but 
a  precarious  footing  in  the  chaotic  situation 
which  the  Eeformation  had  produced.  Of  the 
Koman  Bishops,  three  joined  the  reformers,^* 
while  some  at  least  of  their  fellows  remained  in 
Scotland,  sat  in  Parliament,  and  probably  enjoyed 
a  considerable  share  of  their  former  revenues. 
When  vacancies  occurred  the  Pope  continued  to 
"provide"  successors  to  bishoprics,  notwithstand- 
ing the  Act  of  Parliament.^  And  the  lot  of  the 
clergy  was  not  what  one  would  have  expected.  In 
spite  of  all  Knox's  violent  invectives  they  were 
treated  with  great  consideration.  Two-thirds  of 
the  free  ecclesiastical  revenues  are  said  to  have 
remained  in  the  hands  of  the  clerics,  by  way  of 
vested  life-interest."    All  Bishops,  Abbots,  Priors, 


^'^  Bishop  Bothwell  of  Orkney,  and  the  Bishops  of  Gal- 
loway and  Caithness.  The  two  former  seem  to  have  been 
consecrated,  while  the  third  was  a  layman.  See  Dowden, 
Scottish  Bishops,  pp.  250,  268,  349,  375. 

s«  Dowden,  pp.  191,  207,  228,  229. 


150  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  other  prelates  and  beneficed  men  who  pro- 
fessed adhesion  to  the  new  regime,  were  allowed 
to  retain  the  life  rent  of  their  benefices  on  condi- 
tion that  they  maintained  reformed  ministers  in 
their  several  parishes  and  districts/'  Such  pro- 
fessions were  doubtless  often  of  a  very  formal  char- 
acter, if  indeed  tendered  at  all.  Even  the  in- 
mates of  the  nunneries  were  provided  for.  The 
prioress  of  Elcho,  for  instance,  enjoyed  until  her 
death,  in  1570,  the  revenues  of  the  parish  kirk 
of  Dun,  under  the  eye  of  the  superintendent  him- 
self,*" and  there  are  similar  cases  on  record.  The 
whole  situation  makes  it  difficult  to  accept  Knox  as 
in  all  respects  the  representative  figure  of  the 
Eeformation.  He  was,  in  the  words  of  a  Presby- 
terian historian,***^  "unquestionably  a  great  instru- 
ment in  effecting  the  Reformation ;  but  we  are  in- 
clined to  regard  the  preacher  as  an  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  the  barons,  rather  than  the  barons  as 
instruments  in  the  hands  of  the  preacher." 

As  a  superintendent  Erskine,  as  may  be  im- 


^' Statutes  of  the  Scottish  Church.  Dr.  Patrick,  1907. 
p.  CV. 

«»Knox,  II,  257. 

»»Hist.  M.S.S.  Com.,  V,  p.  634.  This  is  an  act  of  ad- 
mission by  the  Superintendent  to  James  Erskine,  into  the 
parsonage  of  Dun,  "vacant  through  the  decease  of  umwhile 
Dame  Euphame  Leslie,  late  prioress  of  Elcho,  which  par- 
sonage sometime  pertained  to  the  priory  of  Elcho." 

^•'Dr.  Cunningham,  Church  History  of  Scotland,  I,  279. 
(2nd  ed.) 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  151 

agined,  did  not  give  complete  satisfaction  to  the 
more  violent  of  his  associates.  He  was  accused 
before  the  General  Assembly  in  1563  of  allowing 
"discipline"  to  be  neglected  in  many  kirks  of 
Angus  and  Mearns.  It  was  also  alleged  that  he 
preached  not  in  his  visitations;  and  that  being 
burdened  with  the  visitation  of  the  north,  he  could 
not  attend  upon  the  charge  allotted  him/'  On 
more  than  one  occasion  he  sought  to  be  relieved 
from  his  ofSce/''  but  the  Assembly  would  not  ac- 
cept his  resignation.  Instead,  he  was  appointed 
Moderator  in  1565  and  the  two  following  years, 
and  when  young  King  James  was  crowned  at  Stir- 
ling in  1567,  it  was  Erskine  who,  along  with  Spot- 
tiswoode,  the  superintendent  of  Lothian,  and  Both- 
well,  the  Bishop  of  Orkney,  set  the  crown  upon  his 
head. 

Whatever  the  extremists  may  have  thought, 
Erskine  had  no  lack  of  reforming  zeal.  In  1562 
we  find  him  delating  before  the  Assembly  one 
Eobert  Cumyn,  schoolmaster  in  Arbroath,  "for 
infecting  the  youth  committed  to  his  charge  with 
idolatry,"  *'  and  seven  years  later,  when  he  was 
commissioned  with  the  task  of  reforming  the  Uni- 
versity of  Aberdeen,  which  still  clung  to  the  old 
religious  traditions,  he  deposed  from  office  the 
Principal,    Sub-Principal,   and  three  Regents   or 


»^Knox,  VI,  387.      "^^  Wodrow,   p.  21       ^'Knox,  II,  363. 


152  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

professors,  thus  effectually  purging  "that  nursery 
of  learning."** 

In  the  last  of  Knox's  famous  interviews  with 
Queen  Mary,  Erskine  had  a  characteristic  share. 
The  famous  preacher  had  been  summoned  to  Holy- 
rood  to  give  account  of  a  sermon  in  which  he  had 
inveighed  against  Mary's  rumoured  project  of  mar- 
riage with  Don  Carlos  of  Spain.  He  attended 
with  a  group  of  friends,  but  Erskine  of  Dun,  who 
as  we  have  seen  was  a  persona  grata  with  Mary, 
was  the  only  one  allowed  to  enter  Mary's  "cabinet" 
with  Knox.  The  interview  followed  the  usual 
lines,  and  the  Queen  was  reduced  to  "owling"  and 
tears.  At  this  point  Erskine  intervened,  and,  ac- 
cording to  Knox,  "entreated  what  he  could  to  miti- 
gate her  anger,  and  gave  unto  her  many  pleasing 
words  of  her  beauty,  of  her  excellence,  and  how 
that  all  the  princes  of  Europe  would  be  glad  to  seek 
her  favours.  But  all  that  was  to  cast  oil  in  the 
flaming  fire."*''  This  sounds  more  like  burlesque, 
however,  than  a  real  account  of  what  Erskine 
would  have  said,  and  may  be  put  down  to  Knox's 
sense  of  humour.  The  really  humorous  sequel 
was  not  seen  in  that  light  by  Knox.  He  was  or- 
dered to  leave  the  Queen's  presence,  while  Erskine 
and  Lord  John  of  Coldingham  spent  nearly  an 
hour  attempting  to  appease  the  royal  wrath.  When 
Erskine  left  the  cabinet  he  was  doubtless  startled 


"  Wodrow,  p.  22,  etc.  «'  Works,  II,  388. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  153 

to  find  Knox  in  the  ante-chamber,  haranguing  the 
queen's  ladies  on  their  gorgeous  apparel,  for  he 
carried  him  off  from  the  dangerous  precincts  with- 
out delay. 

A  curious  episode  is  related  by  Wodrow*^  in 
connection  with  the  murder  of  Regent  Moray  in 
1570.  Knox,  as  is  well  known,  believed  himself 
possessed  of  prophetical  powers,  and  it  would  seem 
that  Erskine  was  credited  with  a  similar  faculty. 
According  to  a  tradition  ^^handed  down  in  that 
family  as  an  undoubted  truth,"  the  Earl  of  Moray 
was  staying  at  Dun  House  just  before  his  untimely 
death.  He  and  the  superintendent  were  talking 
together  at  "a  large  window  at  the  end  of  the  old 
hall  there,  which  looked  out  on  a  pleasant  green," 
when  Erskine  "suddenly  looked  about  him,  and 
with  the  greatest  sorrow,  and  tears  in  his  eyes, 
after  he  had  been  silent  for  some  [time] ,  at  length 
interrupted  the  Eegent  with  these  words :  ^Ah ! 
woes  me,  my  Lord,  for  what  I  perceive  is  to  befall 
you  shortly,  for  in  a  fortnight's  time  you  will  be 
murdered.'  " 

The  removal  of  Moray,  who  had  been  one  of 
the  mainstays  of  the  Reformation  movement,**^  pro- 
duced great  changes  in  Church  and  State.     The 


««p.  26. 

*^^The  "Good  Regent''  of  the  Protestants  was  an  illegiti- 
mate son  of  King  James  V,  and  had  been,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  times,  made  Prior  of  St.  Andrews  by  his 
father  at  the  mature  age  of  five  years. 


154  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Earl  of  Morton  became  the  most  influential  man 
of  King  James's  party,  and  in  order  to  raise  money 
to  enable  him  to  contend  with  the  supporters  of 
the  imprisoned  Queen  Mary,  he  directed  his  atten- 
tion anew  to  the  Church's  wealth.  As  the  un- 
reformed  Bishops  died  off/'  salaried  successors 
might  be  appointed  by  the  Crown  on  conditions 
very  favourable  to  the  Exchequer,  but  very  un- 
favourable to  the  interests  of  the  Kirk  invisible. 
Thus  the  whole  question  of  Church  government 
in  Scotland  was  raised,  and  Erskine  took  the  lead 
in  making  a  protest.  His  letter  to  the  Regent 
Mar,  of  November  10,  ISTl,*"*  was,  as  has  been 
already  pointed  out,^"^  not  a  condemnation  of  the 
office  of  a  Bishop,  but  a  defence  of  the  Kirk 
against  the  thrusting  in  of  officials  with- 
out its  authority.  In  a  second  letter^"'  he  thus 
complains:  ^^I  perceive  the  Kirk  to  be  so  far 
despised,  that  no  wrong  can  be  done  to  it.  It  may 
appear  most  justly  to  all  men,  that  the  destruction 
of  the  Kirk  and  ministry  is  sought ;  for  benefices 
are  given  and  Bishops  are  made  at  men's  pleas- 
ure, withqut  consent  of  the  Kirh," 

It  has  been  the  fashion  to  represent  Erskine 
in  this  connection  as  at  first  manfully  contending 
for  the  Presbyterian  system,  and  afterwards, 
owing  to  his  good  nature,  weakly  agreeing  to  ac- 


®^  Archbishop  Hamilton  was  hanged  in  1571. 

»»  Wodrow,  p.  36.        ^"«  page  145.        "'  Wodrow,  p.  43. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  155 

cept  titular  Bishops  as  part  of  the  government  of 
the  Kirk,  but  the  only  foundation  for  this  opinion 
seems  to  be  a  misreading  of  words  that  are  quite 
plain,  and  a  failure  to  understand  a  singularly 
strong  and  consistent  character.  Many  besides 
Erskine  must  have  agreed  with  the  Regent's  words, 
"The  default  of  the  whole  stands  in  this,  that  the 
policy  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland  is  not  perfect,  or 
any  solid  conference  among  Godly  men,  that  are 
well  willed  and  of  judgment,  how  the  same  may  be 
helped.''  ^^'  Knox  himself  was  no  opponent  of 
Bishops  per  5^/^'  and  his  co-reformer,  Spottis- 
woode,  used  often  to  say,  in  his  old  age,  "the  doc- 
trine we  profess  is  good,  but  the  old  policy  was 
undoubtedly  the  better."  '"*  And  surely  it  is  at 
least  credible  that  Douglas,  when  he  became  Arch- 
bishop of  St.  Andrews,  and  Row,  when  he  de- 
fended the  lawfulness  of  Diocesan  Episcopacy  in 
1575,  were  otherwise  than  faithful  to  their  deep- 
est convictions. 

The  outcome  of  this  struggle  was  the  holding 
of  the  Convention  of  Leith  in  1572,  a  meeting  of 
superintendents,  commissioners,  and  ministers, 
which  was  to  have  "the  strength,  force,  and  effect" 
of  a  General  Assembly.  As  a  result  of  their  de- 
liberations the  episcopate  was  restored  at  least  in 
name.     The  old  titles  and  boundaries  of  the  dio- 


^p.  45. 

'  See  Hume  Brown,  I,  92,  93,  and  II,  278. 

'  Arch.  Spott.  Hist.,  II,  337. 


156  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

ceses  were  to  remain  as  before  the  Eeformation. 
A  chapter  of  learned  men  was  to  be  attached  to 
each  Cathedral.  The  Bishops  and  Archbishops 
were  to  have  no  more  authority  than  superintend- 
ents, and  to  be  subject  to  the  Assembly.  Abbots, 
priors,  and  commendators  were  to  be  learned  and 
suitable  for  their  office,  and  to  be  tried  and  ad- 
mitted by  the  Bishops.  All  deaneries,  provostries 
of  collegiate  churches,  prebends,  and  chaplaincies 
founded  on  temporal  lands,  were  to  be  bestowed 
by  their  patrons  on  students.  The  following  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  of  which  Erskine  was  Moderator, 
reluctantly  accepted  these  findings  "until  further 
and  more  perfect  order  be  obtained." 

It  may  seem  strange,  to  those  who  regard  John 
Knox  as  the  founder  of  Presbyterianism,  that  the 
aged  reformer,  now  nearing  his  end,  wrote  a  let- 
ter'^*"  to  this  Assembly  in  agreement  with  their  find- 
ings. He  urged  "that  all  bishoprics  vacant  may 
be  presented,  and  qualified  persons  nominated 
thereunto  within  one  year  of  the  vacancy  thereof, 
according  to  the  order  taken  in  Leith  by  the  com- 
missioners of  the  nobility  and  of  the  Kirk  in  the 
month  of  January  last."  His  acquiescence  has 
been  set  down  to  a  sordid  desire  to  secure  the 
Church's  patrimony,^***  but  surely  Knox  of  all  men 
would  have  been  the  last  to  surrender  his  princi- 
ples for  the  sake  of  even  the  Church's  gain. 

^<*'  Richard  Bannatyne's  Memorials,  p.  250.  _ 
"®  Cunningham's  History,  I,  p.  345. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  157 

The  ecclesiastical  system  thus  set  up  was  un- 
satisfactory from  every  point  of  view.  The  Bish- 
ops had  no  valid  consecration,  and  very  soon  be- 
came held  up  to  scorn  for  their  subserviency  to  the 
Crown  and  their  financial  relations  to  their  pa- 
trons. The  term  Tulchan"'  bishops,  which  was 
applied  to  them,  indicated  the  simoniacal  condi- 
tions upon  which  many  of  them  held  their  sees. 
Thus  within  twenty  years  the  quasi-episcopal  sys- 
tem gave  way  before  the  vigorous  assaults  of  An- 
drew Melville  and  his  colleagues,  and  in  1592 
Presbyterianism  was  for  the  first  time  established 
in  Scotland,  itself  to  give  place  eighteen  years 
later  to  a  true  episcopacy. 

These  further  changes,  however,  Erskine  did 
not  live  to  see.  For  seventeen  years  he  worked 
along  with  the  titular  Bishops  as  a  superin- 
tendent of  the  Kirk,  although  he  had  offered 
to  resign  ofiice  in  favour  of  the  Bishop  of 
Dunkeld  and  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews.  In 
1575  he  was  instituted  ^""^  by  Winram,  superintend- 
ent of  Fife,  to  the  parish  of  Dun,  an  indication 
that  his  labours  as  superintendent  were  not  now  so 
heavy  as  they  used  to  be.  The  trend  of  Erskine's 
sympathies    in    the    struggle    between    the    Pres- 


"^  A  tulchan  was  a  dummy  calf  stuffed  with  straw, 
placed  before  a  cow  to  make  her  give  milk. 

^^^Hist.  M.S.S.  Report,  V,  634.  James  Erskine  was 
parson  of  Dun  in  1570,  and  Thomas  Erskine  in  1574.  Both 
were  probably  sons  of  the  Superintendent.    Wodrow,  p.  411. 


158  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

byterian  and,  as  one  may  call  them,  Episcopalian 
parties,  is  seen  in  a  letter  written  to  him  by  the 
Eev.  Thomas  Smeton  ^^at  the  command  of  the 
brethren  sent  in  commission,"  regarding  the  As- 
sembly of  1580,  at  which  Episcopacy  was  con- 
demned, and  Bishops  deposed,  at  least  on  paper. 
He  deplores  ^^this  horrible  confusion,  which  is  like 
to  wreck  the  Kirk  of  God  in  this  country,"  and 
while  he  regrets  the  absence  of  Erskine  through 
weakness  and  disease  of  body,  he  requests  him 
from  time  to  time  to  ^^let  them  understand  his 
godly  counsel  and  judgment  concerning  the  uphold 
of  these  ruinous  walls  of  afflicted  Jerusalem."  ^^* 

Wodrow  avers  that  he  had  a  considerable  share 
in  framing  the  second  Book  of  Discipline,"^  but  An- 
drew Melville  was  the  main  author  of  this  produc- 
tion. He  seems  to  have  been  more  active  in  1585, 
at  a  time  when  the  progress  of  Presbyterianism 
was  for  the  time  being  stayed,  and  Episcopacy  had 
the  upper  hand.  In  that  year  he  shewed  great 
zeal  as  a  commissioner  appointed  for  the  purpose 
of  getting  ministers  to  subscribe  the  obligation 
imposed  by  Parliament  in  1584,  to  obey  the  king, 
and  ^^the  ordinary  bishop  or  commissioner"  of  the 
diocese."*  In  the  same  year  he  is  described  in  a 
deed  of  presentation  by  the  constable  of  Dundee, 
as  ^^Bishop  and  superintendent."  "^ 

^^Ubid.,  p.  635,  No.  9.  "<>  Wodrow,  p.  63. 

"1  Grub.  Eccl.  Hist,  of  Scot.,  II,  328. 
"2  Hist.  M.S.S.  Report,  V,  635. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  159 

An  interesting  light  is  thrown  upon  the  sur- 
vival of  Catholic  customs  in  Scotland  long  after 
the  Keformation  by  two  licenses"*  of  King  James 
VI,  dated  1580  and  1584,  allowing  Erskine  to 
dispense  with  fasting.  The  second  of  these  is 
thus  worded:  ^^We,  understanding  that  our  well- 
beloved  clerk,  John  Erskine  of  Dun,  is  past  the 
age  of  76  years,  and  that  he  is  sickly  and  subject 
to  divers  infirmities  and  diseases:  therefore  by 
the  tenor  hereof,  with  advice  of  the  Lords  of  our 
secret  council,  gives  and  grants  license  to  him  to 
eat  flesh  so  oft  as  he  shall  think  expedient  on  the 
forbidden  days  of  the  week,  to-wit,  Wednesday, 
Friday,  and  Saturday,  and  in  the  time  of  Lent- 
roun,  during  all  the  days  of  his  lifetime." 

Another  license  of  the  same  year"*  excusing 
Erskine  of  Dun  and  his  people  from  attending  ^^the 
raid  appointed  towards  Stirling"  shows  that  in 
theory  at  least  he  was  liable,  parson  and  superin- 
tendent as  he  waSjto  take  up  arms  at  his  sovereign's 
behest.  Four  years  earlier,  in  1580,  a  commission 
was  issued  to  him  "or  in  case  of  his  indisposition 
and  inability  to  travel"  to  his  son,  Eobert  Erskine, 
younger,  of  Dun,  to  proceed  with  the  aid  of  the 


"^  Hist.  M.S.S.  Report,  V,  p.  640,  Nos.  68,  72.  See  The 
Irvines  of  Drum,  by  J.  F.  Leslie  (Aberdeen,  1909),  p.  80  for 
similar  licenses  to  Alexander  Irvine,  dated  1622-6-7.  For 
the  legislative  enactments  see  Acts  of  Scot,  Pari.  Ill,  p.  40, 
35   (1567),  p.  353,  12   (1584),  p.  453,  42   (1587). 

^^^lUd.,  no.  70.         ^""Ulid.,  no.  11,  p.  636. 


160  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

lieges  of  Forfarshire  against  the  house  of  Ked- 
eastle"*  with  fire,  sword,  and  all  other  kind  of  war- 
like engines  and  recover  it  for  the  king.  Young 
Erskine  seems  to  have  brought  this  affair  to  a 
speedy  and  satisfactory  conclusion/" 

Erskine  died  in  1589  "^  full  of  years  and  of 
honour.  Like  Knox,  he  left  the  scene  of  his  la- 
bours a  poor  man,  for  the  last  letter  of  his  which  is 
preserved '"  is  a  pathetic  petition  to  the  king  for 
the  continuance  of  his  pension  ^^but  for  a  year, 
hoping  ere  that  time  be  passed,  I  shall  be  delivered 
from  the  bondage  of  corruption."  His  life  had 
been  a  long  and  varied  one,  during  which  there 
were  five  Kings  and  seven  regents  of  Scotland. 
And  he  had  played  a  part  in  the  thrilling  events 
of  his  time  which  was  both  worthy  and  of  the 
highest  importance.  James  VI.  had  ^^as  good 
opinion"  of  Erskine  "as  of  any  subject  in  Scot- 
land," *^"  and  he  is  the  only  prominent  reformer  of 
whom  practically  all  historians"^  speak  with  ad- 
miration. His  ecclesiastical  opinions  we  have 
seen,  and  as  to  his  powers  as  a  preacher,  Hume 
Brown  speaks  admirably  in  connection  with  three 

"®The  ruins  of  this  building  are  prominent  to  the  rail- 
way traveller  passing  Lunan  Bay  in  Forfarshire,  4^  miles 
from  Montrose. 

^^'Ihid.,  no.  69,  p.  640.  ^^^lUd.,  p.  633. 

^^^  Ihid.,  p.  636.  There  were  four  Lairds  living  on  the 
estate  at  the  same  time,  and  five  wives  or  widows  of  Lairds, 
p.  633. 

^2"  Hid.,  p.  636,  no.  13.      ^^^  Calderwood  is  an  exception. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  161 

of  his  discourses  which  have  come  down  to  us. 
^^Oompared  with  other  contemporary  productions 
of  the  same  kind  they  are  remarkable  for  their 
clearness  and  simplicity  of  styla  and  the  directness 
with  which  they  go  to  the  mark  the  preacher  set 
before  him.  But  more  notable  than  even  these 
qualities  is  the  mild  piety  they  breathe,  and  their 
comparative  freedom  from  the  rancorous  spirit  of 
the  time."  '" 

Archbishop  Spottiswoode's  appreciation  of  the 
Reformer  is  also  worth  recording.  "In  the  end 
of  the  year'''  died  John  Erskine  of  Dun,  superin- 
tendent of  Angus  and  Mearns,  a  man  famous  for 
the  services  performed  to  his  prince  and  country, 
and  worthy  to  be  remembered  for  his  travails  in 
the  Church,  which  out  of  zeal  to  the  truth  he  un- 
dertook, preaching  and  advancing  it  by  all  means. 
...  A  baron,  he  was  of  good  ranji,  wise,  learned, 
liberal,  of  singular  courage,  who  for  divers  re- 
semblances may  well  be  said  to  have  been  another 
Ambrose.  He  died  the  twelfth  of  March,  in  the 
eighty-second  year  of  his  age,  leaving  behind  him 
a  numerous  posterity,  and  of  himself  and  his  vir- 
tues a  memory  that  shall  never  be  forgotten."  ''* 


"=^11,  301. 

^2'  1591,  but   like  other   writers   Spottiswoode   confused 
the  Superintendent  with  his  grandson  of  the  same  name. 
^^^  History,  II,  412. 


V-THE  COVENANTING  PERIOD 

Robert  Leighton 
Bishop  of  Dunblane  and  Archbishop  of 
Glasgow 

(Born  leU-^Died  1684) 

The  original  reformation  settlement  in  Scot- 
land was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  much  milder  and 
more  indefinite  arrangement  in  some  important 
respects  than  is  generally  imagined.  Especially 
was  this  true  in  the  matter  of  Church  Government. 
Hampered  as  they  were  by  their  theory  of  an  in- 
visible Kirk,  and  divided  as  they  were  in  opinion,' 
the  reformers  seem  to  have  been  driven  by  stress 
of  circumstances  upon  the  shoals  of  an  unstable 
compromise.  The  strange  and  hybrid  hierarchy 
which  resulted,  of  Superintendents,  Eeformed 
Bishops,  and  Commissioners  appointed  for  limited 
periods,  has  been  a  subject  of  much  discussion  be- 


^  Archbishop  Spottiswoode,  whose  father  was  a  superin- 
tendent and  one  of  the  compilers  of  the  first  Book  of  Dis- 
cipline says  that  "divers"  of  those  entrusted  with  this  task 
wished  to  retain  the  ancient  polity,  cleansed  from  its  cor- 
ruptions, but  Knox,  "who  then  carried  the  chiefest  sway" 
studied  to  conform  to  the  Genevan  model.  History,  Vol  I, 
Ixii. 


ROBERT  LEIGHTON,  D.D.. 

Archbishop  of  Glasgow  1654 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  163 

tween  Episcopalian  and  Presbyterian  writers,  each 
claiming  the  system  as  their  own.  Lacking,  how- 
ever, as  it  does  the  distinctive  element  both  of 
Episcopacy  and  of  Presbyterian  parity,  while  pos- 
sessing features  that  belong  to  both,  it  is  most 
wisely  placed  in  a  category  by  itself.  A  study  of 
all  the  facts  of  the  case  suggests  that  while  the  first 
generation  of  reformers  was  largely  indifferent  to 
the  "divine  rights"  of  either  Episcopacy  or  Pres- 
byterianism,''  different  individuals  interpreted  the 
situation  each  according  to  his  own  light. 

The  outcome  of  this  state  of  things  was  what 
may  be  described  as  a  see-saw  between  Episcopacy 
and  Presbyterianism  for  more  than  a  century. 
During  this  period  the  Kirk  oscillated  between 
the  two  rival  systems  according  to  the  political 
forces  which  happened  to  be  in  the  ascendant.  Un- 
der both  dispensations  tyranny  and  compulsion 
were  freely  employed,  for  religious  toleration  was 
a  plant  of  slow  growth  in  Scotland.  And  on  the 
whole  the  country  acquiesced  in  the  successive 
changes,  with  grumblings  and  protests  of  varying 
bitterness,  and  rebellious  outbreaks  on  the  part  of 
the  irreconcilables.  It  was  not  until  after  1689 
that  this  balance  of  power  was  shattered,  and  the 
permanent  predominance  of  Presbyterianism  se- 
cured, by  the  adhesion  of  the  main  body  of  the 
Episcopalians  to  Jacobite  principles,  a  proceeding 

=*The  supreme  power  of  the  General  Assembly  was  the 
matter  for  which  they  really  cared. 


164  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

which,  however  laudable  on  the  score  of  loyalty,  in- 
volved them,  and  the  cause  of  Scottish  Episcopacy, 
in  the  ruin  of  the  ill-fated  Stuart  dynasty. 

The  great  strength  of  Presbyterianism  was  its 
witness  for  the  spiritual  independence  of  the  Kirk, 
just  as  the  great  weakness  of  the  Episcopal  system 
was  the  subservience  of  its  Bishops  to  the  crown. 
In  this  lies  the  true  inwardness  of  the  long  and 
bitter  religious  struggles  of  Scotland.  Had  the 
Stuart  kings  respected  the  feelings  of  their  sub- 
jects in  religious  matters,  and  refrained  from  the 
policy  of  appointing  as  Bishops  only  men  who  were 
likely  to  do  as  they  were  told,  the  history  both  of 
the  Kirk  and  the  country  might  have  been  very 
different.  Rightly  or  wrongly,  however,  they  re- 
garded Presbyterianism  as  a  force  inimical  to 
political  sovereignty,  and  studied  to  make  Episco- 
pacy a  prop  to  the  throne.  At  the  Hampton  Court 
conference  of  1604  James  VI.  expressed  this  opin- 
ion with  much  vigour.  With  respect  to  the  demand 
of  the  Puritans  for  periodical  meetings,  "his  maj- 
esty was  somewhat  stirred,  and  thinking  that  they 
aimed  at  a  Scottish  Presbytery,  Vhich,'  saith  he, 
^as  well  agreeth  with  monarchy  as  God  and  the 
Devil:  then  Jack  and  Tom,  Will  and  Dick  shall 
meet  and  at  their  pleasure  censure  both  me  and 
my  council.  I  remember  how  they  used  the  poor 
lady  my  mother,  and  me  in  my  minority.'  Then 
turning  to  the  Bishops,  and  touching  his  hat,  he 
added:     ^My  Lords,  I  may  thank  you  that  these 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  165 

puritans  plead  for  my  supremacy,  for  once  you 
are  out  and  they  in  place,  I  know  what  would  be- 
come of  my  supremacy :  for  no  Bishop,  no  king.' '' 

During  the  period  between  1560  and  1689 
there  were  no  fewer  than  six  changes  of  Church 
government  in  Scotland.  sThe  superintendent  sys- 
tem was  merged  in  1572  into  the  titular  Episco- 
pate, which  lasted  for  twenty  years.  Then  came 
the  first  establishment  of  Presbyterianism  which 
after  a  troubled  dominance  of  eighteen  years  gave 
place  to  the  first  valid  Episcopate  of  1610.  The 
uprising  which  brought  about  the  downfall  of 
Charles  I.  brought  in  Presbyterianism  for  the  sec- 
ond time  in  1638,  but  under  Cromwell  the  prerog- 
atives of  the  Kirk  were  greatly  curtailed,  especially 
after  1653  when  the  General  Assembly  was  dis- 
banded by  Colonel  Cotterel  at  the  head  of  a  mili- 
tary force.  The  restoration  of  Charles  II.  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  establishment  of  the  second  Episco- 
pacy of  1661,  the  brightest  ornament  of  which 
was  the  prelate  whose  character  and  career  will 
form  the  subject  of  this  chapter. 

Amidst  the  goodly  company  of  hply  men  whose 
lives  have  adorned  Scottish  Christianity  Robert 
Leighton  stands  as  one  of  the  brightest  and  the 
best.  Divines  of  different  creeds  have  united  in 
paying  tribute  to  his  excellence.  In  his  writings 
men  of  diverse  characters  have  found  a  peculiar 
inspiration.  His  pure  and  lofty  piety,  and  his 
complete    unworldliness    have    deeply    impressed 


^i^ 


166  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

successive  generations.  His  broad-minded  mod- 
eration and  his  devoted  labours  in  the  cause  of 
religious  concord  and  charity  have  impelled  both 
Presbyterians  and  Episcopalians  to  claim  him  as 
their  own.  A  mystic  by  temperament,  it  v^as  his 
lot  to  live  in  the  thick  of  the  worst  troubles  of 
Scottish  ecclesiastical  history,  and  that  not  as  a 
recluse,  but  as  an  active  participator  in  the  events 
of  his  time.  "Leighton,"  wrote  his  friend,  Dr. 
Fall,  ^^was  the  delight  and  wonder  of  all  that  knew 
him."'  ^^I  bless  the  hour,"  said  Samuel  Taylor 
Coleridge,  "that  introduced  me  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  evangelical,  apostolical  Archbishop  Leigh- 
ton."*  To  Lord  Morley  "Leighton  was  one  of 
the  few  wholly  attractive  characters  of  those  bitter 
flavoured  times,"  "  and  the  late  Cardinal  Manning 
is  credited  with  this  striking  testimony:  "One  of 
the  most  remarkable  discoveries  of  modern  science 
is  the  fact  that  hurricanes  revolve  around  a  centre 
of  perfect  calm.  Outside  the  charmed  circle  the 
tempest  may  rage  furiously — within  it,  all  is 
peace.  A  similar  phenomenon  can  be  found  in 
the  moral  and  spiritual  world.  In  seasons  of 
civil  war  or  theological  strife,  when  ^envy,  hatred, 
and  all  uncharitableness'  abound,  we  may  find 
some  tranquil  spirits  who,  undisturbed  by  the  tu- 
mult around,  seem  perpetually  to  hear  their  master 

•Prefatory  Epistle  to  his  Works. 

*  Notes  on  English  Divines^  Vol.  II,  p.  120. 

^  Oliver  Cromwell,  p.  95. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  167 

whispering  to  them  words  of  peace.  Such  a  man 
was  Robert  Leighton."* 

When  Leighton  was  born  in  1611  Episcopacy 
had  just  been  restored  to  Scotland  by  the  consecra- 
tion of  three  titular  Bishops,  Spottiswoode,  Lamb, 
and  Hamilton,  at  the  hands  of  the  Bishops  of 
London,  Ely,  Rochester,  and  Worcester.  Nothing, 
however,  was  more  unlikely  than  that  this  infant 
would  in  his  turn  be  consecrated  under  similar  con- 
ditions sixty  years  later,  for  his  father,  Alexander 
Leighton,  was  a  Presbyterian  of  the  narrowest  and 
bitterest  type,  and  a  foe  to  the  whole  race  of 
Bishops.  When  the  time  came  to  send  Robert  to 
the  University  of  Edinburgh,  his  father  entreated 
the  gentleman  to  whose  care  the  lad  was  entrusted. 
Sir  James  Stewart  of  Goodtrees,  "to  train  him  up 
in  the  true  Presbyterian  form,  and  Robert  was 
strictly  enjoined  with  his  father's  blessing  to  be 
steady  in  that  way."  ' 

Alexander  Leighton  belonged  to  an  old  family 
which  had  possessed  for  centuries  the  estate  of 
Usan,  near  Montrose.  Among  his  ancestors  is  said 
to  have  been  Henry  de  Lichtoun,  Bishop  succes- 
sively of  Moray  and  of  Aberdeen  in  the  early  half 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  not  certain  whether 
his  home  was  in  Scotland  or  in  England  at  the  time 


"  Butler's  Life  and  Letters  of  Robert  Leighton,  p.  538. 
See  the  whole  of  Chapter  XV,  "Tributes  to  Leighton's 
Spiritual  Genius." 

'  Dr.  Sprott,  in  Diet,  Nat.  Biog.,  XXXIII,  p.  4. 


168  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIE8  IN 

of  Robert's  birth,  but  he  was  in  London  before 
1617,  at  which  date  he  went  to  Ley  den  to  study 
medicine.  After  his  return  to  England  he  seems 
to  have  been  more  prominent  as  a  disseminator  of 
Puritan  principles  than  as  a  medical  practitioner, 
and  the  publication  of  his  violent  book.  An  Appeal 
to  Parliament,  or  Zions  plea  Against  prelacy, 
brought  him  into  conflict  with  the  authorities.  In 
1630  he  was  brought  before  the  Star  Chamber,  and 
condemned  to  a  cruel  punishment.  After  being 
pilloried  and  whipped  at  Westminster,  one  of  his 
ears  was  cut  off  and  his  nose  slit,  and  he  was 
branded  in  the  face  with  S.  S.  for  a  sower  of 
sedition.  Besides  these  inhumane  sufferings  he 
had  to  endure  an  imprisonment  of  ten  years,  and  a 
fine  of  £10,000  was  imposed  upon  him.  In  1640 
the  Long  Parliament  cancelled  the  fine,  and  voted 
£6,000  to  him  in  compensation  for  his  sufferings 
and  losses. 

From  all  this  it  will  be  apparent  that  young 
Leighton  had  no  liking  for  Episcopacy  as  estab- 
lished in  Scotland,  during  his  career  as  a  student 
of  Edinburgh  University  between  the  years  1627 
and  1630.  Bred  up,  as  his  friend  and  admirer 
Gilbert  Burnet  says,*  with  the  greatest  aversion 
imaginable  to  the  whole  frame  of  the  church  of 
England,  the  dangers  to  which  his  father  was  ex- 
posed were  a  cause  of  keen  anxiety  to  him.     ^^God 

^History   of   my   own   time,    1,    240.      (Osmund    Airy's 
edition. ) 


SCOTTISH  GEUBCH  HISTORY  169 

frustrate  the  purpose  of  wicked  men/'  he  wrote  to 
his  stepmother  in  1629,  with  reference  to  his  fath- 
er's action  in  sending  copies  of  Zioris  plea  Against 
prelacy  to  Edinburgh.  The  books  "are  like  to  bring 
those  that  medled  with  them  in  some  danger,  but 
I  hope  God  shall  appease  the  matter  and  limite  the 
power  of  wicked  men,  who,  if  they  could  do  accord- 
ing to  their  desire  against  God's  children,  would 
make  havoc  of  them  in  a  sudden."  ^  His  animos- 
ity against  Laud  was  only  natural,  and  must  have 
been  increased  tenfold  when  he  learned  of  the 
punishment  which  was  meted  out  to  his  father. 

The  few  letters  of  Leighton's  student  days  that 
have  come  down  to  us  reveal  a  strong  spirit  of  per- 
sonal piety.  "Exhort  my  brother,"  he  writes  in 
that  which  has  just  been  quoted,  "walke  with  God, 
and  pray  for  me  that  the  same  thing  may  be  my 
case,"  and  similar  expressions  occur  in  the  others.'" 
Burnet,  who  was  a  much  younger  man  than  his 
hero,  writes  of  this  period  in  the  light  of  later 
developments  of  Leighton's  character,  but  his  ac- 
count is  well  worth  recording."  After  telling  how 
his  father,  "a  man  of  violent  and  ungoverned  heat," 
sent  Robert  to  be  bred  in  Scotland,  he  goes  on  to 
say  that  he  "was  accounted  a  saint  from  his  youth 
up.  He  had  great  quickness  of  parts,  a  lively  ap- 
prehension, with  a  charming  vivacity  of  thought 

®  'Sfotes  and  Queries :  3rd  series.  Vol.  I,  p.  107. 

i«  Butler,  pp.  55,  60,  61. 

"  History  of  my  own  time,  I,  239. 


170  BIOORAPHIOAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  expression.  He  had  the  greatest  command  of 
the  purest  Latin  that  ever  I  knew  in  any  man.  He 
was  a  master  both  in  Greek  and  Hebrew,  and  in 
the  whole  compass  of  learning,  chiefly  in  the  study 
of  the  Scriptures.  But  that  which  excelled  all  the 
rest,  he  came  to  be  possessed  of  the  highest  and 
noblest  sense  of  divine  things  that  I  ever  saw  in 
any  man.  He  had  no  regard  to  his  person,  un- 
less it  was  to  mortify  it  by  a  constant  low  diet,  that 
was  like  a  perpetual  fast.  He  had  a  contempt 
both  of  wealth  and  reputation.  He  seemed  to 
have  the  lowest  thoughts  of  himself  possible,  and 
to  desire  that  all  other  persons  should  think  as 
meanly  of  him  as  he  himself  did.  He  bore  all 
sort  of  ill  usage,  and  reproach  like  a  man  that  took 
pleasure  in  it." 

The  piece  of  fine  portraiture  which  follows 
refers  still  more  clearly  to  Leighton's  char- 
acter in  later  life,  but  it  will  be  convenient 
to  set  it  down  here.'''  "He  had  so  subdued 
the  natural  heat  of  his  temper,  that  in  a  great 
variety  of  accidents,  and  in  a  course  of  twenty-two 
years'  intimate  conversation  with  him,  I  never  ob- 
served the  least  sign  of  passion,  but  upon  one  single 
occasion.  He  brought  himself  into  so  composed  a 
gravity  that  I  never  saw  him  laugh,  and  but  seldom 
smile.  And  he  kept  himself  in  such  a  constant 
recollection,  that  I  do  not  remember  that  ever  I 

^2 1,  240. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  171 

heard  him  say  one  idle  word.  There  was  a  visible 
tendency  in  all  he  said  to  raise  his  own  mind,  and 
those  he  conversed  with,  to  serious  reflections.  He 
seemed  to  be  in  perpetual  meditation.  And,  though 
the  whole  course  of  his  life  was  strict  and  ascetical, 
yet  he  had  nothing  of  the  sourness  of  temper  that 
generally  possesses  men  of  that  sort.  He  was  the 
freest  of  superstition,  of  censuring  others,  or  of 
imposing  his  own  methods  on  them,  possible;  so 
that  he  did  not  so  much  as  recommend  them  to 
others.  He  said  there  was  a  diversity  of  tempers, 
and  every  man  was  to  watch  over  his  own,  and  to 
turn  it  in  the  best  manner  that  he  could.  When 
he  spoke  of  divine  matters,  which  he  did  almost 
perpetually,  it  was  in  such  an  elevating  manner, 
that  I  have  often  reflected  on  these  words,  and  felt 
somewhat  like  them  within  myself  while  I  was 
with  him.  Did  not  our  hearts  burn  within  us  while 
he  talked  with  us  by  the  way  ?  His  thoughts  were 
lively,  oft  out  of  the  way  and  surprising,  yet  just 
and  genuine.  And  he  had  laid  together  in  his 
memory  the  greatest  treasure  of  the  best  and  wis- 
est of  all  the  ancient  sayings  of  the  heathens  as 
well  as  Christians,  that  I  have  ever  known  any 
man  master  of,  and  he  used  them  in  the  aptest 
manner  possible." 

One  amusing  incident  in  Leighton's  student 
days  shows  how  even  in  such  a  nature  as  his  was, 
the  natural  man  is  apt  to  crop  up  unexpectedly. 
In  the  course  of  a  difference  of  opinion  which  arose 


172  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

during  his  first  session,  between  the  undergradu- 
ates and  one  of  the  university  authorities,  he  wrote 
a  clever  epigram  on  the  red  nose  of  the  Provost 
of  Edinburgh,  which  resulted  in  his  temporary  ex- 
pulsion from  the  university.  The  chief  magis- 
trate, Aikenhead  by  name,  being  by  virtue  of  his 
office  "Rector  or  Chancellor  of  the  university,"  ''' 
had  interfered  with  the  liberties  of  the  students  in 
such  a  way  as  to  excite  their  indignation,  with  the 
above  mentioned  direful  result.  Leighton  tells  the 
story  in  a  letter  to  his  father."  "There  was  a  fight 
between  our  Classe  and  the  Semies,  which  made 
the  Provost  to  restraine  us  from  the  play  a  good 
while ;  the  boyes  upon  that  made  some  verses,  one 
or  two  in  every  classe,  mocking  the  Provost's  red 
nose.  I,  sitting  beside  my  Lord  Borundell  and  the 
Earl  of  Ha  (dington's)  son,  speaking  about  these 
verses  which  the  boyes  had  made,  spoke  a  thing 
in  prose  concerning  his  nose  .  .  .  and  presently, 
upon  their  request,  turned  it  into  a  verse  thus: 

"That  which  his  name  importes  is  falsely  said. 
That  of  the  oaken  wood  his  head  is  made, 
For  why,  if  it  had  bein  composed  so, 

His  flaming  nose  had  fir'd  it  long  ago."  " 


^^  Coltness  Collections,  p.  21. 

^*May  20,  1629.  Addressed  to  Mr.  Alexander  Leigh- 
ton,  Dr.  of  Physike,  at  his  house  on  the  top  of  Pudle  Hill, 
near   Blackfriars  gate,   over  against  the   King's  wardrobe. 

^»  Butler,  p.  55. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  173 

This  was  followed  by  an  apology  whose  de- 
licious impudence  must  have  inflamed  the  magis- 
terial wrath  still  more.  Beginning  in  a  spirit  of 
mock  humility  he  urges  his  Lordship  to  remember 
his  own  greatness  and 

"despise 
Your  scorners.    For  why?  Eagles  catch  no  flyes. 
Fooles  attribute  to  you  a  fyrie  nose, 
But  fyre  consumeth  paper,  I  suppose; 
Therefore  your  Lordship  would  seem  voyd  of  fyre, 
If  that  a  paper  doe  dispell  your  eyre; 
And  if  that  this  remeid  doe  stand  in  steide, 
Then  shall  the  laurell  crown  your  Aiken  heid; 
Now,  since  it's  thus,  your  Lordship  if  it  please. 
Accept  ane  triple  cure  for  ane  disease."  ^' 

Doubtless,  as  Leighton  writes  to  his  father,  the 
teaching  staff  and  the  Principal  of  the  University 
were  by  no  means  scandalised  at  his  clever  ebulli- 
tion of  boyish  fun,  but  discipline  had  to  be  main- 
tained, and  the  offender  was  "solemnly  extruded.'' 
The  period  of  his  expulsion,  however,  was  not  of 
long  duration.  Sir  James  Stewart,  his  guardian, 
had  been  absent  from  Edinburgh  while  these 
events  were  happening,  but  on  his  return  he  inter- 
ceded for  the  culprit,  and  Leighton  was  "reponed." 

It  has  been  claimed''  that  Leighton's  wit  was 
occasionally  directed,  not  only  at  the  unfortunate 
Provost's  nose,  but  also  against  the  Scottish  Bish- 


^"  Printed   in   Laing's   Fugitive   Scottish   Poetry   of   the 
Seventeenth  Century,  2nd  series. 
"  Butler,  p.  57. 


174  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

ops,  in  some  of  the  satirical  effusions  of  the  time 
which  have  been  preserved."  While  there  is  no  rea- 
son to  question  either  the  youth's  ability,  or  his  pos- 
session of  the  requisite  sentiments,  the  evidence 
for  this  supposition  is  of  the  flimsiest  description, 
and  it  seems  unlikely  that  he  would  have  forgotten 
so  easily  the  lesson  which  his  escapade  had  taught 
him.  The  clumsy  ill-nature,  too,  which  pervades 
many  of  these  verses,  seems  far  removed  from  the 
delicate  fun  which  prompted  the  academic  satire. 

One  thing,  however,  is  clear.  Leighton's  keen 
sense  of  humour,  however  chastened  and  kept  in 
check,  remained  in  later  life.  His  piety  was  not 
of  that  depressing  order  which  quenches  all  delight 
in  an  innocent  joke.  If  Burnet  "never  saw  him 
laugh,  and  but  seldom  smile,''  there  must  have 
been  others  who  were  more  fortunate.  When  he 
was  Presbyterian  minister  at  Newbattle,  it  is  said 
that  his  brethren  in  the  Synod  reprimanded  him 
for  not  "preaching  up  the  times,"  according  to 
the  prevailing  custom.  Leighton,  who  cordially 
disliked  the  political  harangues  which  had  so 
largely  displaced  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  Kirk,  replied,  "Then  if  all  of  you  preach  up  the 
times,  you  may  surely  allow  one  poor  brother  to 
preach  up  Christ  and  Eternity."  ''  On  another 
occasion,   being  asked  what  he  thought  was  the 

"Laing's  Fugitive  Scottish  Poetry,  2n(i  series,  Preface, 
p.  vi. 

"Butler,  p.  147. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  175 

mark  of  the  beast,  he  answered,  ^^If  I  might  fancy 
what  it  were,  it  would  be  something  with  a  pair 
of  horns  that  pusheth  his  neighbour,  and  hath  been 
so  much  seen  and  practised  in  Church  and  State.''  ^"^ 
Of  a  work  entitled  ^^Naked  truth  whipt  and 
stript,"  he  remarked,  "It  might  have  been  better 
to  clothe  it,"  and  it  is  said  that  "his  frequent 
prayer  was,  ^Deliver  me,  O  Lord,  from  the  errors 
of  wise  men :  yea  and  of  good  men.'  "'' 

Of  the  following  story  one  may  at  least  hope 
that  it  is  true.  When  he  was  Bishop  of  Dunblane, 
a  young  woman,  the  widow  of  a  minister  in  the  dio- 
cese, to  whom  he  had  been  exceedingly  kind,  took 
it  into  her  head  that  the  Bishop  was  deeply  in  love 
with  her.  Finding  he  was  long  of  breaking  his 
mind,  she  went  to  him  in  the  Haining,  a  lonely 
walk  by  the  water-side,  where  he  used  to  meditate. 
Upon  his  asking  her  commands,  "Oh,  my  Lord," 
said  she,  "I  had  a  revelation  last  night."  "Indeed !" 
answered  he :  "I  hardly  imagined  you  would  ever 
have  been  so  highly  honoured:  What  is  it?" 
"That  your  lordship  and  I  were  to  be  married  to- 
gether." "Have  a  little  patience,"  replied  the 
Bishop,  much  abashed,  "till  I  have  a  revelation 
too."  ""^  Wodrow  relates  an  incident  the  accuracy 
of  which  is  perhaps  not  beyond  suspicion,  but  it 
may  be  set  down  here  as  a  final  illustration  of 

^«p.  518.  "p.  520. 

^^  Related   by    Ramsay   Ochtereyre.      See   Scotland   and 
Scotsmen  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  II,  90. 


176  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Leighton's  sense  of  pure  fun.  "Sir  James  Stew- 
art, Provost  of  Edinburgh  told  Mr.  Muire  that 
being  very  bigg  with  Bishop  Leighton,  he  said 
^Sir,  I  hear  that  your  grandfather  was  a  Papist, 
your  father  a  Presbyterian  and  suffered  much  for 
it  in  England,  and  you  a  Bishop!  What  a  mix- 
ture is  this.'  (Says  Leighton)  ^It  is  true,  sir,  and 
my  grandfather  was  the  honestest  man  of  the 
three."" 

Leighton  took  his  degree  at  Edinburgh  on 
July  23,  1631,"  and  for  his  movements  during 
the  next  ten  years  our  information  is  of  the  scant- 
iest. Burnet  says:  "From  Scotland  his  father 
sent  him  to  travel.  He  spent  some  years  in 
France,  and  spoke  that  language  like  one  born 
there."  "  Wodrow  also  mentions  that  he  had  "re- 
lations at  Douay,  in  Popish  orders,"  ^^  with  whom 
it  is  possible  that  he  may  have  lived.  On  this 
slender  foundation  a  recent  biographer"  has  man- 
aged to  compile  a  chapter  of  over  forty  pages  deal- 
ing with  Leighton's  residence  abroad,  but  the  rea- 
sonable inferences  from  these  two  statements  may 
be  put  into  shorter  compass.  It  is  likely  that  his 
imprisoned  father  would  have  wished  him  to  study 
at  some  seat  of  Protestant  learning;  it  is  pretty 
certain  that  he  was  greatly  interested  in  and  im- 


""^Analecta,  Vol.  I,  p.  26. 

2*  Butler,  p.  62.     1661  is  an  evident  misprint. 

^-^I,  240.         ^^Analecta,  III,  452. 

"Butler,  Life  and  Letters  of  Robert  Leighton.  1903. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  177 

pressed  by  the  Jansenist  movement'^  in  the  Koman 
Church,  then  at  its  height;  and  it  is  clear 
that  his  life  in  a  Eoman  Catholic  country,  espe- 
cially if  spent  with  relations  ^^in  Popish  orders/' 
must  have  greatly  widened  his  mental  outlook  and 
tended  to  soften  his  religious  prejudices.  It  may 
well  be  that  it  was  during  these  years  that  he 
learnt  to  love  Thomas  a  Kempis,  whose  Imitation 
he  regarded  ^^as  one  of  the  best  books  that  ever 
was  writ,  next  to  the  inspired  writers."  '*  In  after 
years,  when  he  was  Principal  of  Edinburgh  Uni- 
versity, he  felt  the  attraction  of  the  Jansenist 
movement,  and  spent  some  of  his  vacations  study- 
ing it  on  the  spot.  "Sometimes,"  says  Burnet,  "he 
went  over  to  Flanders,  to  see  what  he  could  find  in 
the  several  orders  of  the  church  of  Kome.  There 
he  found  some  of  Jansenius's  followers,  who 
seemed  to  be  men  of  extraordinary  tempers,  and 
who  studied  to  bring  things,  if  possible,  to  the 
purity  and  simplicity  of  the  primitive  ages;  on 
which  all  his  thoughts  were  much  set.  He  thought 
controversies  had  been  too  much  insisted  on,  and 
had  been  carried  too  far."  *° 

We  may,  in  the  absence  of  contrary  evidence, 
assume  that  Leighton  was  abroad  during  the 
troubled  times  that  heralded  the  overthrow  of 
Scottish  Episcopacy   in   1638.     This  consumma- 

^^Ypres,  the  see  city  of  Bishop  Jansen  in  1636-8,  was 
not  far  from  Douai. 

2«  Wodrow,  Analecta,  III,  452.        «« History,  I,  244. 


178  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

tion  was  brought  about  largely  through  the  mis- 
guided policy  of  the  Stuart  kings,  James  I.  and  his 
unfortunate  son  Charles  I.  Had  they  not  so  per- 
sistently and  in  such  an  autocratic  manner  inter- 
fered with  the  religious  affairs  of  Scotland,  we 
may  well  believe  that  those  who  were  opposed  to 
prelacy  might  have  come  to  see  the  good  side  of 
Episcopal  government.  For  it  was,  says  the  Pres- 
byterian Professor,  James  Cooper,*'  ''a  system 
which  combined  on  the  Ignatian  model,  presby- 
terial  franchises  and  synodical  rights  with  Episco- 
pal oversight — the  system  under  which  alone,  it 
has  been  said,  presbyteries  performed  their  ex- 
ecutive duties — the  system  which  really  gave  us 
our  parish  schools — the  system  which  certainly 
produced  the  brightest  galaxy  of  theologians  that 
ever  adorned  our  northern  sky."  To  which  it  may 
be  added  that  it  was  the  system  under  which  the 
financial  position  of  established  ministers  since 
that  time  was  greatly  improved.  Both  kings  did 
much  in  this  respect.  James  laboured  to  increase 
the  ministers'  stipends,  and  purchased  back,  out 
of  his  own  pocket,  parts  of  the  alienated  church 
lands  for  the  support  of  the  Bishops,  while  it  was 
Charles  who  secured  for  the  ministers  the  teinds 
or  tithes  which  the  present  establishment  still  en- 
joys. And  it  was  the  latter  monarch's  quixotic 
Revocation  Act  of  1625,  by  which  he  attempted  to 


^^Introduction  to  the  Scottish  Liturgy  of  1637,  p.  xi. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  179 

make  the  nobles  restore  the  lands  that  had  been  ac- 
quired from  the  Church,  which  made  that  order 
ready  once  more  to  take  the  lead  in  a  struggle 
which  ended  in  political  and  religious  revolution. 

But  it  is  impossible  to  find  excuse  for  the  blind 
arrogance  of  both  rulers.  James  flouted  the  in- 
dependence of  his  subjects,  bullied  his  Bishops, 
and  suppressed  by  force  those  who  would  not  bend 
to  his  will.  The  Five  Articles  of  Perth,"  reason- 
able as  they  were  in  themselves,  were  passed  in 
1618  by  methods  which  will  not  bear  inspection. 
It  was  left  however  to  Charles  to  drive  the  country 
into  exasperation  by  his  arbitrary  methods.  His 
visit  to  Scotland  in  1633  involved  him  in  great 
unpopularity,  and  his  elevation  of  Archbishop 
Spottiswoode  two  years  later  to  the  Chancellorship 
of  Scotland  was  received  with  great  disfavour. 
Then  came  a  series  of  arbitrary  acts  which  brought 
matters  to  a  crisis.  In  1636  a  book  of  Canons  and 
an  ordinal  were  imposed  upon  the  Kirk  by  royal 
authority,  without  any  consultation  with  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  and  in  the  next  year  the  Scottish 
Prayer  Book  followed.     Eiots*'took  place  in  many 


'^They  prescribed  (1)  Kneeling  at  reception  of  Holy 
Communion;  (2)  Private  Communion  to  the  Sick;  (3) 
Private  baptism  in  cases  of  necessity;  (4)  Observance  of 
the  holy  days  commemorating  Our  Lord's  Birth,  Death, 
Resurrection,  and  Ascension,  and  the  Advent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,    (5)   Confirmation  of  children. 

'^  These  seem  to  have  been  organized  affairs.  The  spon- 
taneous outbreak  of  Jenny  Geddes  is  not  historical. 


180  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

chiirches  when  it  was  used,  and  the  country  was 
soon  in  open  revolt. 

The  Prayer  Book  it  is  true  was  not  Laud's,  in 
spite  of  the  title  which  has  clung  to  it/*  nor  was  it 
"popish,"  as  the  enemies  of  Episcopacy  so  dili- 
gently represented.  Still  less  was  it  an  attempt 
to  introduce  a  liturgical  form  of  worship  as 
something  new,  for  since  the  reformation  Scotland 
had  not  been  without  a  Prayer  Book.''  Its  real 
offence  was  the  method  of  its  publication  by  royal 
authority  at  the  market  crosses  of  Scotland,  in- 
stead of  by  the  authorised  courts  of  the  Church. 
Yet  it  was  the  spark  that  fired  the  train.  Popery, 
it  was  wildly  declared,  was  at  the  doors.  The 
nobles,  to  whom  the  Revocation  Act  was  a  more  real 
bogey  than  the  Prayer  Book,  organised  and  fo- 
mented the  forces  of  rebellion.  Four  strong  com- 
mittees of  nobles,  gentry,  ministers,  and  burgesses, 
called  The  Tables,  were  formed  to  consolidate 
the  popular  outbreak.  In  1638  the  national  cove- 
nant was  drawn  up  and  signed  at  the  Grey  friars' 

""Laud's  Liturgy"  was  compiled  by  two  Scottish 
Bishops,  Maxwell  of  Ross  and  Wedderburn  of  Dunblane. 
Laud  certainly  made  preliminary  suggestions,  and  revised 
the  work  when  finished,  but  both  he  and  Charles  would 
have  preferred  the  adoption  of  the  English  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer. 

"The  English  Prayer  Book  of  1552  was  used  by  the 
reformers,  until  Knox's  Book  of  Common  Order  displaced 
it.  The  Assemblies  of  1601  and  1616  had  tried  to  revise 
Knox's  book,  and  in  1634  another  Scottish  liturgy  had  been 
drafted,  but  suppressed. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  181 

Church  of  Edinburgh  and  throughout  the  country, 
and  the  same  year  a  packed  General  Assembly^* 
condemned  and  deposed  the  Bishops,  and  repudi- 
ated Episcopacy  and  all  that  had  come  in  its  train. 

That  Leighton  heartily  sympathised  with  these 
changes  he  soon  shewed  in  the  clearest  possible  way, 
by  becoming  a  minister  under  the  new  regime.  He 
was  ordained  as  minister  of  Newbattle  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Dalkeith,  on  December  16th,  1641. 
Newbattle  is  an  ancient  parish  in  the  vicinity  of 
Edinburgh,  where  in  bygone  days  a  Cistercian 
abbey  flourished.  In  Leighton's  time  the  con- 
gregation numbered  about  900  communicants," 
and  he  found  his  charge  a  heavy  one.  The  church 
in  which  he  ministered  no  longer  exists,  but  the 
old  oak  pulpit  in  which  he  preached  is  preserved 
in  the  present  building,  and  although  the  ^^town" 
of  Newbattle  itself  has  now  dwindled  into  a  mere 
hamlet,  "the  old  path,  the  old  bridge,  the  old  mill, 
and  the  old  manse  .  .  .  remain  very  much  as 
they  were  in  Leighton's  time."  ^^ 

In  some  of  the  new  minister's  sermons, 
preached  shortly  after  his  entry  into  the  parish, 
there  are  phrases  which  shew  his  enthusiasm  for 
the  new  order  of  things.  "The  pure  light  of  the 
Church  is  now  revived,"  he  says,^*  "and  the  glory 


'^  Episcopacy  was  introduced  by  a  similar  Assembly  in 
1610. 

"Butler,  p.  231.        ^«  p.  143. 

^"^  Leighton's  Works,  West's  Edition,  II,  26. 


182  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  you/'  He  points  out 
how  "the  Lord  brings  notable  judgments  upon  the 
proud  workers  of  iniquity,  and  at  the  same  time 
confers  special  mercies  on  His  own  people,"*''  and 
reminds  his  hearers  that  "when  His  appointed 
time  comes,  to  make  a  day  of  deliverance  dawn 
upon  His  Church,  after  their  long  night  either  of 
affliction  or  of  defection,  or  both;  they  who  con- 
trive against  that  day-spring  are  as  vain  as  if  they 
should  sit  down  to  plot  how  to  hinder  the  sun  from 
rising  in  the  morning."  "  Yet  Leighton  was  not 
an  adept  at  "preaching  up  the  times."  His  refer- 
ences to  current  affairs  are  few,  and  couched  in 
the  mildest  terms.  He  speaks  strongly  now  and 
then,  indeed,  against  the  errors  of  Rome,  but  his 
main  concern  is  with  the  spiritual  needs  of  his 
hearers.  "Were  there  more  repentance  and  per- 
sonal reformation  amongst  us,"  he  declares,  "we 
might  take  it  as  a  hopeful  forerunner  of  that  pub- 
lic reformation  which  so  many  seem  now  to  de- 
sire." "  He  is  more  concerned  with  the  sins  than 
with  the  political  opinions  of  the  covenanters. 
"What  vile  uncleanness  and  wantonness,  what 
shameful  drunkenness  and  excess  prevail!  And 
some  are  so  far  from  mourning  for  others'  guilti- 
ness of  this  sin,  that  they  glory  in  making  others 
guilty  of  it,  and  count  it  a  pastime  to  make  others 
drunk."  *^     The  "histrionic  weeping"  of  his  hear- 

*»p.  2.  "p.  4.  *'p,  6.  *'p.  83. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  183 

ers  in  Church  seems  to  have  grated  upon  his  nerves, 
for  he  contrasts  it  with  that  godly  sorrow  which  is 
^^always  serious  and  sincere." 

It  soon  became  apparent  that,  in  rejecting  Epis- 
copacy, Scotland  had  only  exchanged  one  tyranny 
for  another,  and  that,  in  Milton's  phrase,  new 
presbyter  was  but  old  priest  writ  large.  For  thir- 
teen years  the  Presbyterian  leaders  busied  them- 
selves in  grinding  the  country  into  compliance 
with  their  principles.  The  Marquis  of  Montrose 
was  sent  with  an  army  to  subdue  uncovenanted  Ab- 
erdeen, whose  famous  ^^doctors"  held  out  against 
the  new  system.  Ministers  opposed  to  the  cove- 
nant were  deprived,  private  conventicles,  it  is  in- 
teresting to  remember,  were  forbidden,  and  all  the 
people  were  compelled  to  sign  the  covenant,  or  to 
suffer  pains  and  penalties.  Those  who  were  sus- 
pected of  Eoyalist  leanings  were  treated  with  spe- 
cial harshness,  as  "malignants."  But  the  height  of 
intolerance  was  reached  in  1643,  when  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  was  framed  with  an  aim 
far  more  ambitious  than  the  mere  defense  of  Prot- 
estant liberties  in  Scotland,  which  had  been  the 
theme  of  the  National  Covenant  of  1638.  It  was 
now  intended  to  bring  England  and  Ireland  into 
line  with  Scotland,  by  the  extirpation  of  Popery, 
Prelacy,  Superstition,  Heresy,  Schism,  and  Pro- 
f aneness,  and  the  establishment  of  Presbyterianism 
in  their  stead.  While  this  fond  dream  was  never 
realised,  it  reveals  an  arrogance,  and  a  disregard  of 


184  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

other  men's  consciences,  which  equals  those  of  the 
unwisest  of  the  Stuarts.  Its  political  results  were 
great  and  far-reaching  at  the  time,  but  its  per- 
manent effects  upon  the  religious  life  of  Scotland 
were  far  different  from  what  was  desired.  It 
alienated  the  minds  of  moderate  men  from  Pres- 
byterianism,  and  introduced  into  it  the  Puritanic 
leaven  from  England  and  that  Sabbatarianism 
which  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  an  indigenous 
feature  of  Scotland.  It  also  brought  about  the 
substitutTon  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith,  the  Westminster  Directory  of  Public  wor- 
ship, and  the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms," 
for  the  older  formularies  of  the  Scottish  Kirk. 

To  one  of  Leighton's  tolerant  and  peace-loving 
disposition  the  ecclesiastical  atmosphere  of  these 
times  must  have  been  increasingly  trying.  Yet 
he  remained,  formally  at  least,  loyal  to  the  Pres- 
byterian system  until  the  end  of  his  ministry  at 
Newbattle.  He  attended  the  Presbytery  meetings 
with  conscientious  regularity,  and  took  his  share 
in  its  work."  "He  preached  often  before  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Dalkeith,  occasionally  before  the  Synod 
of  Lothian  and  the  Scottish  Parliament."  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Commission  of  Assembly  in 
1642  which  nominated  the  Commissioners  for  the 
Westminster  Assembly."     However  he  may  have 


**An  drawn  up  at  the  Westminster  Assembly  of  1643- 
1648. 

«  Butler,  p.  179.        *«p.  181. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  185 

disliked  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  he 
signed  it  in  1643/^  administered  it  as  late  as  1650. 
His  father  was  staying  with  him  that  year  at  New- 
battle,"and  it  may  be  that  his  influence  steadied  the 
wavering  allegiance  of  his  son.  Burnet's  account 
of  the  matter  is,  therefore,  inaccurate  in  some  de- 
tails, but  it  probably  indicates  the  truth  in  general. 
^^He  soon  came  to  see  into  the  follies  of  the  Pres- 
byterians, and  to  hate  their  covenant,  particularly 
the  imposing  it,  and  their  fury  against  all  who 
differed  from  them.  He  found  they  were  not 
capable  of  large  thoughts;  theirs  were  narrow,  as 
their  tempers  were  sour.  So  he  grew  weary  of 
mixing  with  them:  he  scarce  ever  went  to  their 
meetings,  minding  only  the  care  of  his  own  parish 
at  N^ewbattle  near  Edinburgh.  Yet  all  the  opposi- 
tion he  made  to  them  was  that  he  preached  up  a 
more  universal  charity,  and  a  silenter  but  sublimer 
way  of  devotion,  and  a  more  exact  rule  of  life  than 
seemed  to  them  consistent  with  human  nature :  but 
his  own  practice  did  even  outshine  his  doctrine."  " 
It  was  the  "engagement"  made  in  1647  be- 
tween Charles  I.  and  the  Scottish  Commissioners 
which  brought  out,  in  a  mild  way,  Leighton's  want 
of  sympathy  with  the  extreme  Presbyterians.  The 
king,  now  at  Carisbrooke  Castle,  had  promised  to 
confirm  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  and  to 
establish  Presbyterian  government  in  England  for 


47 


p.  183.  *«p,  195,  n.  1.  ^^  History,  I,  p.  241. 


186  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

three  years,  on  condition  that  the  Scots  should  send 
an  army  into  England  to  his  support.  Thereupon 
the  Kirk  became  divided  into  two  parties,  the  en- 
gagers and  the  remonstrants,  according  as  they  ap- 
proved of  or  condemned  this  compact.  In  1648  a 
declaration  against  the  engagement  was  ordered  by 
the  Presbytery  to  be  read  in  every  Church  within 
its  borders,  but  Leighton  caused  his  precentor  to 
perform  this  duty  at  Newbattle,  because,  it  was 
said,  of  "the  lownesse  of  his  owne  voice  which 
could  not  be  heard  throw  the  whole  Kirk.""^  For 
this  offence,  and  for  absence  without  leave  in  Eng- 
land, he  was  "gravlie  admonished  by  the  Presby- 
tery." Burnet's  version  of  the  affair  is  as  follows : 
"In  the  year  1648  he  declared  himself  for  the  en- 
gagement for  the  king.  But  the  earl  of  Lothian, 
who  lived  in  his  parish,  had  so  high  an  esteem  for 
him  that  he  persuaded  the  violent  men  not  to 
meddle  with  him."  "  He  goes  on  to  say  that  when 
some  of  his  parishioners  who  had  been  in  the  ex- 
pedition following  upon  the  engagement,  which 
ended  in  the  defeat  of  Preston,  were  ordered  to 
profess  their  repentance  in  public,  he  urged  them 
to  repent  of  the  injustice  and  violence,  the  drunk- 
enness and  other  immoralities  of  which  he  believed 
they  had  been  guilty,  without  entering  into  the  pros 
and  cons  of  the  engagement  at  all."  Two  months 
later  he  was  again  admonished  by  his  Presbytery, 


»« Butler,  p.  228  and  229     ^'  Burnet,  I,  242.    « I,  p.  242. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  187 

this  time  for  declining  to  act  as  a  commissioner  to 
the  General  Assembly/'  and  in  both  cases  he  prom- 
ised "by  the  grace  of  God  to  amend." 

The  death  of  Charles  I.  in  1649  was  followed 
by  the  accession  of  his  son  to  the  throne  of  Scotland 
the  following  year.  The  feud  between  Engagers 
and  Protesters  was  now  merged  into  a  new  struggle 
between  the  Eesolutioners,  who  approved  of  the 
resolutions  of  Parliament  and  Kirk  against  the  Act 
of  Classes,  whereby  in  1649  "malignants"  had  been 
debarred  from  any  position  of  trust  or  oflBce,  and 
the  Kemonstrants  who  raised  their  voices  against 
this  defection  to  ways  of  toleration.  The  Eesolu- 
tioners  were  the  body  who  inherited  the  moderate 
traditions  of  the  Reformation,  and  who  made  the 
re-introduction  of  Episcopacy  possible  in  1660. 
As  that  time  drew  near,  James  Sharp  appeared  as 
one  of  the  most  able  men  of  this  party  of  moder- 
ation, and  although  Leighton  was  no  partisan,  he 
must  now  be  classed  amongst  them  too. 

As  late  as  1651,  however,  Leighton  was  chosen 
unanimously  by  the  Synod  of  Lothian  to  proceed  to 
London  to  negotiate  for  the  "freedom  and  enlarge- 
ment" of  their  brethren  who  had  been  carried  to 
England  as  Cromwell's  prisoners.''*  This  mark  of 
confidence  was  doubtless  partly  due  to  the  fact  that 
Leighton  had  been  in  years  past  a  frequent  visitor 
to  England.''     On  his  return  towards  the  end  of 


'^  Butler,  p.  231.         "  Butler,  p.  236.  «» p.  232. 


188  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

1652  he  had  definitely  decided  to  resign  his  parish, 
apparently  with  the  intention  of  retiring  to  Eng- 
land/" In  December  he  twice  demitted  his  charge, 
but  the  Presbytery  refused  to  accept  the  resigna- 
tion. The  following  year,  however,  a  third  applica- 
tion was  more  successful.  Intimation  was  made 
that  he  had  received  a  call  to  become  Principal  of 
Edinburgh  University,  and  although  he  had  not 
yet  decided  to  accept  the  post,  he  was  loosed  from 
his  ministry,  because  of  his  insufficient  strength 
for  so  large  a  congregation,  and  especially  because 
of  his  weak  voice  which  could  not  reach  half  of 
them  when  convened." 

The  records  of  his  kirk  session  and  of  the  pres- 
bytery shew  that  Leighton  was  exceedingly  strict 
in  matters  of  morality,''*if  not  in  the  strait  tenets  of 
Presbyterianism.  Once  he  appears  in  the  curious 
case  of  a  man  who  had  condemned  "set  prayers, 
and  the  use  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,"  but  who  now 
expressed  his  sorrow  for  that  error."  Leighton 
and  another  minister  were  appointed  to  confer  with 
the  penitent,  in  accordance  with  his  desire  to  be 
"cleared  from  Scripture"  on  the  matter.  And  this 
was  only  thirteen  years  later  than  the  glorious  day 
of  the  mythical  Jenny  Geddes ! 

It  was  during  the  ISTewbattle  ministry  that  the 
bulk  of  Leighton's  sermons,  and  his  famous  com- 


"p.  219.    Letter  by  the  Earl  of  Lothian. 

'  pp.  239,  240.       ''  pp.  225,  226,  243.  '^  p.  234. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  189 

mentary  on  I.  Peter  were  composed/^  It  is  impos- 
sible here  to  exemplify  the  beauty  of  utterance  and 
the  exalted  spiritual  tone  of  these  writings.  Their 
appeal  has  gone  home  to  men  of  all  characters,  cir- 
cumstances, and  opinions.  Let  the  noble  tribute 
of  Professor  Flint  exemplify  this  fact.  ^^As  far 
as  I  can  judge,  a  purer,  humbler,  holier  spirit  than 
that  of  Robert  Leighton  never  tabernacled  in  Scot- 
tish clay.  He  was  ^like  a  star  which  dwelt  apart' 
while  the  storm  raged  below:  or  like  a  fair  flower 
of  Paradise  dropped  amidst  the  thorn  and  thistle 
on  some  bleak  mountain-side.  His  character  was 
of  an  almost  ideal  excellence,  and  so  divinely  beau- 
tiful, that  men,  while  attracted  by  it,  were  also 
awed  by  it,  as  beyond  what  imitation  could  hope  to 
reach  in  the  earthly  state  of  being.  His  works, 
owing  to  the  marvellous  fulness  and  perfection  of 
the  spiritual  life  which  pervades  them,  are  worth 
many  times  over  all  the  writings  of  all  his  Scottish 
contemporaries.  There  is  nothing  nearly  equal  to 
them  in  our  devotional  literature  from  its  rise  until 

99   61 

now. 

Burnet,  who  at  a  later  date  had  many  oppor- 
tunities of  hearing  Leighton  preach,  thus  describes 
his  pulpit  oratory :  "His  preaching  had  a  sublimity 
both  of  thought  and  expression  in  it;  and  above 
all,  the  grace  and  gravity  of  his  pronunciation  was 


««West,  Vol.  VII,  of  Leighton's  Works,  pp.  352-4. 
®^  ;8^^.  Giles*  Lectures,  1st  series,  p.  204. 


190  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

such  that  few  heard  him  without  a  very  sensible 
emotion.  I  am  sure  I  never  did/'  It  was  so  dif- 
ferent from  all  others,  and  indeed  from  everything 
that  one  could  hope  to  rise  up  to,  that  it  gave  a  man 
an  indignation  at  himself  and  all  others.  It  was 
a  very  sensible  humiliation  to  me,  and  for  some 
time  after  I  heard  him,  I  could  not  bear  the 
thought  of  my  own  performances,  and  was  out  of 
countenance  when  I  was  forced  to  think  of 
preaching.  His  style  was  rather  too  fine;  but 
there  was  a  majesty  and  a  beauty  in  it  that  left 
so  deep  an  impression,  that  I  cannot  yet  forget  the 
sermons  I  heard  him  preach  thirty  years  ago. 
And  yet  with  all  this  he  seemed  to  look  upon  him- 
self as  so  ordinary  a  preacher,  that  while  he  had  a 
cure  he  was  ready  to  employ  all  others ;  and  when 
he  was  a  Bishop  he  chose  to  preach  to  small  audi- 
tories, and  would  never  give  notice  beforehand. 
He  had  indeed  a  very  low  voice,  and  so  could  not 
be  heard  by  a  great  crowd."  ** 

Leighton's  appointment  to  the  Principalship 
was  made  on  17th  of  January  1653  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Town  Council  and  the  ministers  of  Edin- 
burgh.    The  latter  did  not  vote  at  the  election, 


^^Of.,  the  Earl  of  Lothian's  "never  did  I  gette  soe 
much  good  by  any  that  stoode  in  a  pulpit."    Butler,  p.  220. 

"^  History,  I,  241.  Leighton's  contemporaries  did  not 
all  approve  of  his  "haranguing  way  of  preaching  without 
heads/'  which  was  a  novelty  in  Scottish  pulpits.  Butler, 
p.  160,  n.  2. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  191 

^^because  they  were  not  clear  in  the  manner  of  the 
call/'  although  they  were  ^Vell  content  with  the 
man.''  ^  This  circumstance  points  to  some  in- 
terference on  the  part  of  the  English  authorities, 
in  favour  of  Leighton/'  who  must  have  been 
known  to  the  Parliamentarians  on  his  father's  ac- 
count if  not  on  his  own.  The  battle  of  Worcester 
in  1651  had  left  Scotland  at  Cromwell's  mercy, 
and  his  policy  of  toleration  for  Independents,  of 
political  union  between  the  two  countries,  and  of 
improvement  in  the  administration  of  justice,  al- 
tered the  whole  situation  both  in  Kirk  and  State. 

Under  these  new  conditions,  and  in  a  somewhat 
more  congenial  environment,  Leighton's  lot  was  a 
happier  one  than  it  had  been  at  Newbattle.  He 
had  been  prevailed  on,  says  Burnet,  to  accept  the 
Principalship  "because  in  it  he  was  wholly  sep- 
arated from  all  church  matters.  He  continued 
ten  years  in  that  post,  and  was  a  great  blessing  in 
it :  for  he  talked  so  to  all  the  youth  of  any  capacity 
or  distinction  that  it  had  a  great  effect  on  many  of 
them.  He  preached  often  to  them,  and  if  crowds 
broke  in,  which  they  were  apt  to  do,  he  would 
have  gone  on  in  his  sermon  in  Latin,  with  a 
purity  and  life  that  charmed  all  who  understood 
it."  **  As  Principal  he  did  not  teach  theology 
proper,  but  a  number  of  his  lectures  on  the  practi- 


«*  Butler,  p.  293-4.  «» See  on  p.  247,  n.  1. 

^''History,  I,  242. 


192  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

cal  aspects  of  religion  remain,  which  he  is  said  to 
have  delivered  on  Wednesdays,  while  he  preached 
to  the  students  on  Sundays.'''  One  of  his  hearers 
tells  how  amidst  the  religious  disputes  and  fac- 
tions which  prevailed  in  the  University,  the  Prin- 
cipal's voice  was  still  raised  on  the  side  of  peace. 
^^The  impressions  I  retained  from  Mr.  Leighton 
his  discourses  desposed  me  to  affect  charity  for 
all  good  men  of  any  persuasion,  and  I  preferred  a 
quiet  lyfe,  wherein  I  might  not  be  ingaged  in 
factions  of  Church  or  State."  ** 

In  his  farewell  address  to  the  students  Leigh- 
ton  claims  that  the  one  aim  of  these  lectures  had 
been  that  "the  form  of  sound  words — that  is  of 
Christian  doctrine — and  consequently  the  fear  and 
love  of  God  might  not  only  be  impressed,  but  also 
graven  upon  your  hearts  in  lasting  and  indelible 
characters,  and  that  you  might  not  only  admit 
as  a  truth,  but  also  hold  in  the  highest  regard  this 
indisputable  maxim  ^That  piety  is  the  one  and 
only  real  good  among  men.'  "  He  goes  on  to  say 
that  he  had  endeavoured,  with  all  the  earnestness 
in  his  power,  to  recall  them  "from  those  unprofit- 
able questions  and  disputes  that,  like  thorns  and 
briars,  have  overrun  the  whole  of  theology;  and 
this  at  a  time  when  most  of  our  divines  and  pro- 
fessors, and  those  of  no  small  reputation,  engaging 


^^  Butler,  pp.  250-1.       ^^  Sibbald's  Autobiography,  p.  15. 


BIOQRAPEIGAL  STUDIES  IN  193 

furiously  in  such  controversies,  have  split  into 
parties,  and  unhappily  divided  the  whole  land.""* 

In  his  vacations  he  often  paid  visits  to  Lon- 
don, where  he  met  the  prominent  men  in  Crom- 
well's court,  and  in  the  several  parties  then  about 
the  city  of  London.  But  ''he  never  could  see  any- 
thing among  them  that  pleased  him:  they  were 
men  of  unquiet  and  meddling  tempers:  and  their 
discourses  and  sermons  were  dry  and  unsavoury, 
full  of  airy  cant,  or  of  bombast  swellings.''  '"^ 
Sometimes  too  he  paid  one  of  those  visits  to  the 
Jansenists  in  Flanders  which  have  been  already 
mentioned." 

Whether  or  not  Leighton's  remarkable  treatise 
entitled  Counsels  of  Perfection,  or  rules  and  in- 
structions for  spiritual  exercises  was  composed  dur- 
ing the  Prinicipalship,  it  may  here  receive  the  in- 
adequate notice  which  alone  is  possible.  A  work  of 
mystical  devotion  which  strikingly  recalls  the  Imi- 
tation, and  yet  "appears  to  be  as  original  as  any 
work  of  the  kind  can  well  be,"^"^  it  stands  almost 
alone  as  a  product  of  our  native  theology.  Its  sum 
is  according  to  its  author — 

"1.  Remember  always  the  Presence  of  God. 

2.  Rejoice  always  in  the  Will  of  God. 

3.  Direct  all  to  the  Glory  of  God,"  " 


«"  Works,  VI,  295.     V^est's  edition. 

^« Burnet,  I,  p.  244.  "Above,  page  177. 

'^  Works,  VI,  p.  304.        "p.  331. 


194  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  its  aim  to  teach  how  man's  soul  may  be  "knit 
to  God"  in  a  union  "more  fast  and  joined  nearer 
to  Him  than  to  thine  own  body."'*  "If  thou  aspire 
to  attain  the  perfect  knitting  or  union  with  God, 
know  that  it  requireth  a  perfect  exspoliation,  and 
denudation,  or  bare  nakedness,  and  utter  for- 
saking of  all  sin,  yea  of  all  creatures,  and  of 
thyself  particularly;  even  that  thy  mind  and  un- 
derstanding, thy  affections  and  desires,  thy  mem- 
ory and  fancy,  be  made  bare  of  all  things  in  the 
world,  and  all  sensual  pleasures  in  them,  so  as 
thou  wouldst  be  content  that  the  bread  which 
thou  eatest  had  no  more  savour  than  a  stone,  and 
yet,  for  his  honour  and  glory  who  created  bread, 
thou  art  pleased  that  it  savoureth  well;  but  yet, 
from  the  delectation  thou  findest  in  it  turn  thy 
heart  to  the  praises  and  love  of  Him  who  made 
it."" 

The  Principal's  care  for  the  moral  well-being 
of  his  students  appears  in  a  representation  to  the 
Town  Council  anent  "some  suspect  houses  keipit 
near  the  coUedge,"  and  his  zeal  for  educational 
efficiency  in  a  proposal  to  the  same  body  that  gram- 
mar schools  should  be  erected  in  every  presbytery, 
and  a  book  of  "Eudiments"  in  English  and  Latin 
be  provided  for  use.'**  According  to  Wodrow  he 
tried  to  persuade  Dickson,  the  professor  of  theol- 
ogy, to  teach,  or  at  least  recommend,  his  "dear 


*p.  327.  "p.  324.         ^« Butler,  p. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  195 

aKempis""  to  the  students;  but  his  colleague  re- 
fused on  account  of  its  Popish  doctrines,  and  be- 
cause "neither  Christ's  satisfaction,  nor  the  doc- 
trine of  grace,  but  self  and  merite  ran  throu  it."  '* 
Certainly  Leighton  himself  took  occasion  to  recom- 
mend it  in  his  farewell  address  already  alluded 

J.       19 

to. 

The  death  of  Cromwell  in  1658  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  the  Restoration  of  Charles  II.  and  the 
re-establishment  of  Episcopacy  both  in  England 
and  in  Scotland.  For  Leighton  this  meant  the  end 
of  his  career  as  a  Presbyterian  and  a  Principal. 
He  had  gone  south  in  consequence  of  bad  health, 
and  also  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the  Univer- 
sity ^  amidst  the  changes  which  were  impending. 
On  August  20th,  1661,  he  wrote  a  letter  which 
shows  that  he  was  seriously  contemplating  resigna- 
tion of  his  office  owing  to  his  "crazy  and  unhealth- 
ful"  state,  and  his  expectation  that  he  had  not 
much  longer  to  live.  Any  prospect  or  project  of 
advancement  for  himself  was  far  from  his  mind.*^ 
But  his  brother,  Sir  Elisha  Leighton,  who  was  now 
attached  to  the  court  of  Charles,  pressed  his  name 
upon  the  attention  of  Lord  Aubigny,  who  in  turn 
made  the  king  aware  of  the  Principal's  rare  piety 


"  p.  262.         "  Analecta,  III,  452.        ^»  Works,  VI,  298. 

®^  In  1657  he  had  been  in  London  securing  a  grant  for 
the  University  of  £200  a  year  from  Cromwell.  Butler,  p. 
252. 

"Letter  to  the  Provost  of  Edinburgh.     Butler,  p.  291. 


196  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  ^^notions.""  Charles  accordingly  nominated 
Leighton  for  one  of  the  Scottish  Bishoprics,  hop- 
ing, according  to  Burnet's  extreme  view,  that  ^'such 
a  monastic  man,  who  had  a  great  stretch  of  thought, 
and  so  many  other  eminent  qualities,  would  be  a 
mean,  at  least  to  prepare  the  nation  for  popery,  if 
not  directly  to  come  over  to  them."  ^^ 

Leighton  was  most  unwilling  to  accept  this  pro- 
motion, for  which  he  had,  to  quote  his  own  words, 
"the  greatest  aversion  that  ever  I  had  to  anything 
in  all  my  life."  ^  But  he  had  now  for  many  years 
been  a  silent  dissentient  to  the  zeal  of  his  co-relig- 
ionists in  Scotland,*''  and  he  had  hopes  of  helping  to 
bring  about  a  happier  state  of  things  under  the 
new  system,  by  "reconciling  the  devout  on  different 
sides.  "^  Most  of  all,  he  could  urge  no  valid  reason 
why  he  should  not  become  a  Bishop,  and  so  was 
"forced  to  capitulate,"  stipulating  only  that  he 
should  receive  "the  indulgence  of  the  lowest  sta- 
tion, and  they  say  the  lightest  burden  of  all  the 
kind,  whereas  I  was  for  some  days  threatened  with 


®^  Sir  Elisha  Leighton  was,  according  to  Burnet,  "a  very 
immoral  man,  both  lewd,  false,  and  ambitious,"  as  well  as 
"a  Papist  of  a  form  of  his  own."    History,  I,  242. 

^  I,  244. 

«*  Letter  to  Rev.  James  Aird.     Butler,  p.  337-8. 

^'^  Ibid.,  "They  have  misreckoned  themselves  in  taking 
my  silence  and  their  zeals  to  have  been  consent  and  parti- 
cipation." 

^'p.  398. 


SCOTTISH  GHURGH  HISTORY  197 

one  of  the  heaviest.""  The  unworldliness  with 
which  he  thus  sought  Dunblane,  the  smallest  and 
worst  paid  Scottish  diocese,  was  prominent 
throughout  his  life.  When  swindled,  in  spite  of 
a  friend's  warning,  by  an  unscrupulous  agent,  of 
the  property  which  his  father  left  him  in  1649,  his 
mild  comment  was,  "I  confess  it  is  the  wiser  way 
to  trust  nobody:  but  there  is  so  much  fool  in  my 
nature  as  carries  me  rather  to  the  other  extreme,  to 
trust  everybody.  .  .  .  That  little  which  was  in  Mr. 
E.'s  hands  hath  failed  me:  but  I  shall  either  have 
no  need  of  it  or  be  supplied  some  other  way."^ 
And,  in  Burnet's  striking  phrase,  ^^his  provision 
and  his  journey  failed  him  at  once,"  when  he  died 
in  1684.  As  a  Bishop  he  had  been  content  with 
^Vhat  his  tenants  were  pleased  to  pay  him,"*^  and 
after  his  retirement  to  England  he  lived  upon  such 
arrears  as  were  paid  to  his  agent,  but  the  last  pay- 
ment that  he  could  expect  had  been  sent  him  about 
six  weeks  before  his  death."^ 

As  Leighton  and  Sharp  had  received  Presby- 
terian ordination,  they  were  privately  ordained  to 
the  diaconate  and  the  priesthood.*'     This  had  not 

"  Letter  to  Earl  of  Lothian.     Butler,  p.  335. 

His  stipend  was  £43-19-1,  while  Sharp's  was  £1544-6-1, 
p.  355. 

««p.  213. 

®®  Of.,  Butler,  397.  "If  you  make  it  appear  .  .  .  rea- 
sonable that  you  give  nothing,  nothing  bee  it." 

»« Burnet,  I,  429. 

«i  About  Nov.  24,  1661.     Butler,  p.  306. 


198  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

been  done  in  1610,  and  Sharp  at  first  held  out  for 
that  precedent.  Leighton,  who  certainly  cannot 
be  claimed  as  an  advanced  Episcopalian,  saw  no 
difficulty  in  what  he  regarded  as  a  mere  matter  of 
Church  rule,**^  and  we  have  his  own  testimony  that 
when  he  and  his  brother  Bishops  returned  to  Scot- 
land no  attempt  was  made  to  force  re-ordination 
on  the  Presbyterian  ministers.*'  The  two  others, 
Fairfoul  and  Hamilton,  had  been  ordained  by  Scot- 
tish Bishops,  and  all  four  were  consecrated  in 
Westminster  Abbey  on  December  15,  1661,  by  the 
Bishops  of  London,  Worcester,  Carlisle  and  St. 
Asaph.**  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  ap- 
parently present  as  Commissioner,  but  did  not 
take  part  in  the  laying  on  of  hands,  in  order  to 
preserve  the  independence  of  the  Scottish  Bishops. 
Leighton  was  soon  disappointed  in  his  col- 
leagues. He  felt  that  the  "feasting  and  jollity  of 
that  day''  was  hardly  fitting  for  so  solemn  an  occa- 
sion as  "the  new  modelling  of  a  church."  And 
when  he  propounded  to  his  brother  Bishops  his 
plans  for  union  with  the  Presbyterians,  for  raising 
men  "to  a  truer  and  higher  sense  of  piety,  and  for 
the  improvement  of  public  worship  with  a  view  to  a 


»=»  Burnet,  I,  248. 

®'  Butler,  p.  428.  They  re-ordained  ministers  who  wished 
this  to  be  done.  Bishop  Mitchell  of  Aberdeen  alone  in- 
sisted on  re-ordination.     Grub.,  Ill,  218. 

"*So  in  Butler,  p.  333.  Grub  gives  Llandaff  instead  of 
St.  Asaph.     Ill,  196. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  199 

liturgical  use,"  he  was  amazed  to  find  that  he  was 
speaking  to  deaf  ears/^  On  the  return  to  Scotland 
the  four  travelled  in  the  same  coach,  but  Leighton 
was  "very  weary''  of  his  companions,  and,  as  he 
thought,  they  of  him.  Finding  on  the  way  that 
"they  intended  to  be  received  in  Edinburgh  with 
some  pomp,"  he  left  them  at  Morpeth,  and  came 
on  before  them,  hating  as  he  did  "all  the  appear- 
ances of  vanity."  ^* 

The  plan  which  the  good  Bishop  had  formed 
for  the  union  of  Presbyterianism  and  Episcopacy 
was  founded  upon  the  scheme  which  Archbishop 
Usher  propounded  in  the  days  before  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  shattered  for  him  all  hope 
of  such  an  amalgamation.  Leighton's  scheme  for  a 
modified  Episcopacy,  as  he  afterwards  propounded 
it,  was  in  outline  as  follows:  The  Kirk  should 
be  governed  by  the  Bishops  and  Clergy  in  their 
ecclesiastical  courts,  and  in  matters  both  of  juris- 
diction and  of  ordination  the  Bishops  should  be 
guided  by  the  majority  of  their  Presbyters.  Min- 
isters who  submitted  to  the  Bishops  should  be  re- 
quired to  do  so  only  in  the  interests  of  peace,  and 
without  sacrificing  principle.  Provincial  synods 
should  be  held  every  third  year,  or  oftener  at  the 


^'^  Burnet,  I,  249. 

®*  "He  would  not  have  the  title  of  lord  given  him  by  his 
friends,  and  was  not  easy  when  others  forced  it  on  him." 
Ibid.,  p.  251. 


200  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

king's  summons,  and  in  these  synods  the  Bishops 
might  be  censured  for  offences  proved  against 
them.  It  was  in  the  spirit  of  these  proposals  that 
Leighton  performed  his  own  duties  as  a  Bishop, 
and  well  had  it  been  for  religion  in  Scotland  if  his 
example  had  been  followed. 

Leighton's  name  is  still  prominently  associated 
with  the  peaceful  and  beautiful  Cathedral  town  of 
Dunblane,  and  Dr.  Walter  Smith's  fine  poem  has 
immortalised  the  "Bishop's  Walk"  where  the  good 
man  was  wont  to  take  his  exercise."  Yet  in  his 
quiet  retreat  he  must  have  many  a  time  found  his 
prediction  come  true,  that  his  office  would  be  "a 
mortification,  and  that  greater  than  a  cell  and  hair- 
cloth.** His  old  associates  declared  that  he  was 
"Popish  and  Jesuistic,"**  and  perverted  all  his 
doings.  His  old  guardian  Sir  James  Stewart  be- 
stowed upon  him  a  welcome  which  is  sufficiently 

"^  "A  pleasant  walk,  when  singing  bird 
Upon  the  bending  twig  is  heard, 
And  rustling  leaf  that  bids  you  hush! 
And  hear  the  slow  still  waters  gush 
Far  down  below  unseen. 
Beneath  the  branches  green. 

♦  «  »  *  * 

How  swell  the  Ochils  green:  and  there 
The  Cromlex  melts  in  distant  air; 
Benledi  and  Ben  Lomond  far 
Front  the  rude  crags  of  Uam-var: 
And  by  the  shady  way 
Still  towers  the  minster  gray." 
»» Butler,  p.  338.      «^p.  360. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  20i 

described  in  the  words  which  Leighton  is  said  to 
have  used  on  his  return,  "I  have  dined  at  Good- 
trees.  I  wish  I  had  stayed  at  home  and  chawed 
gravell."  "*  In  contemporary  satire  he  was  de- 
scribed in  terms  that  recall  the  famous  Vicar  of 
Bray/^^  And  most  of  all  he  felt  that  the  hopes 
with  which  he  had  entered  upon  the  Episcopate 
were  not  likely  to  be  realized.  His  struggling  for 
peace  and  unity  even  semed  in  moments  of  des- 
pondency ^^like  a  fighting  against  God."  '°* 

Among  the  Eesolutioners  there  was  a  strong 
feeling  in  favour  of  Episcopacy  at  the  Eestora- 
tion/^"*  and  nearly  600  ministers  accepted  the  new 
order  of  things.'""*  But  the  extremists  refused 
to  comply,  and  Charles's  political  ministers  em- 
barked upon  that  policy  of  severity  which  produced 
the  later  Covenanters.  It  is  to  be  remembered 
that  these  men  represented  only  the  five  western 
shires,  comprising  about  a  fifth  of  the  population 
of  the  country,  and  that  the  liberty  for  which 
they  contended  was  not  merely  ecclesiastical  free- 
dom for  themselves,  but  also  liberty  to  impose  their 


^««  Butler,  p.  361;  n.  6. 

i«^  p.  340: 

"Reporting  thy  compliancie 

With  each  prevailing  partie; 

That  whatsoever  change  fell  out, 

Thou  wast  to  it  most  heartie." 

^«2  Burnet,  I,  249.         "»I,  321.          ^«*p.  351, 

202  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

principles  upon  the  consciences  of  their  fellow- 
countrymen. 

A  number  of  acts  were  passed  by  parliament 
which  soon  made  the  cleavage  clear.  In  1662 
every  man  in  public  office  or  place  of  trust  was 
called  on  to  abjure  the  Covenant,  and  by  the  Pat- 
ronage Act  all  ministers  elected  between  1649  and 
1660  were  directed  to  seek  presentation  from  the 
lawful  patrons,  and  collation  from  the  Bishops. 
Eventually  two  or  three  hundred  of  the  ministers 
gave  up  their  benefices  rather  than  comply.  Then 
came  in  1663  the  measure  which  was  nicknamed 
"the  Bishops'  drag-net,"  forbidding  the  covenant- 
ing ministers  to  exercise  their  ministry,  and  im- 
posing fines  on  all  who  refused  to  attend  the  parish 
church.  The  Mile  Act  forbade  the  nonconform- 
ing ministers  to  live  within  twenty  miles  of  their 
former  parishes,  within  six  miles  of  Edinburgh 
or  any  other  cathedral  city,  or  within  three  miles 
of  a  royal  burgh.  The  High  Court  of  Commis- 
sion was  revived  for  a  brief  period,  to  deal  with 
ecclesiastical  offences.  Erom  1664  to  1666  the 
people  in  the  west  were  oppressed  with  fines,  and 
troops  were  quartered  upon  them.  Insurrection 
followed,  and  at  Bullion  Green,  on  the  28th  of 
November,  1666,  General  Dalziel  routed  the  un- 
disciplined Covenanters.  Seventy  persons  were 
banished  and  more  than  thirty  hanged,  two  of 
these  having  been  tortured  to  extract  a  confession. 

For  this  miserable  tale  no  palliation  can  be 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  203 

offered.  It  was  a  case  of  the  most  terrible  mis- 
management of  a  difficult  situation,  and  the  pity 
is  that  so  few  Bishops  or  others  raised  their  voices 
in  protest.  It  is  true  that  the  Covenanters  only 
received  in  added  measure  what  they  had  dealt 
out  to  others  in  their  day  of  power,  and  that  if  the 
Episcopalians  in  1638  had  been  as  fanatical  as 
their  opponents  were  after  1662  there  would  have 
been  ^^killing  times"  then  too,  in  plenty.  But 
after  all  has  been  said,  one  can  only  think  of  this 
aspect  of  the  period  with  shame  and  sorrow. 

Meanwhile  Leighton  pursued  his  own  course 
in  the  diocese  of  Dunblane.  ^^He  went  round  it 
constantly  every  year,  preaching  and  catechising 
from  parish  to  parish.  He  continued  in  his  pri- 
vate and  ascetic  course  of  life,'^'  and  gave  all  his 
income,  beyond  the  small  expense  on  his  own  per- 
son, to  the  poor.  He  studied  to  raise  in  his  clergy 
a  greater  sense  of  spiritual  matters,  and  of  the 
care  of  souls,  and  was  in  all  respects  a  burning  and 
a  shining  light,  highly  esteemed  by  the  greater  part 
of  his  diocese :  even  the  Presbyterians  were  much 
mollified,  if  not  quite  overcome,  by  his  mild  and 
heavenly  course  of  life."  "^  In  his  dealings  with 
patrons,  presbyteries,  and  synods  he  shewed  the 
utmost   conciliation,    and   refrained   from   acting 


106  «j  believe  for  myself  I  shall  live  as  monastieally  as 
ever  I  did"  he  wrote  in  1661.     Butler,  p.  336. 
"« Burnet,  I,  382. 


204  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

upon  his  own  sole  authority  as  far  as  possible/''' 
His  addresses  in  synod  were  mainly  directed  to 
two  points,  the  raising  of  the  standard  of  morals 
and  piety,  and  the  improvement  of  Church  wor- 
ship. Year  by  year  he  urged  the  same  counsels  up- 
on his  clergy  with  remarkable  persistence.  His  suc- 
cessor Bishop  Ramsay,  when  he  examined  the 
synod  register  containing  Leighton's  addresses,  de- 
clared that  he  looked  on  it  "as  beyond  some  volumes 
of  the  ancient  concilles,"  and  remarked  upon  the 
patience  with  which  the  same  teaching  was  re- 
peated, "precept  upon  precept,  line  upon  line."  '"' 
Leighton's  efforts  in  the  direction  of  a  better 
system  of  worship  in  Church  were  moderate 
enough.  He  desired  that  the  Lord's  Prayer  should 
be  restored  to  more  frequent  use,"*  together  with 
the  Doxology,  the  Creed,  and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments; and  that  Holy  Scripture  should  be  more 
largely  read.  He  urged  his  clergy  to  use  longer 
texts  and  shorter  sermons,^"  and  to  recall  their 
people  from  their  "irreverent  deportment"  in  pub- 


^'^  Butler  wrongly  minimises  the  part  which  Leighton 
took  in  the  ordination  of  ministers,  and  he  is  of  course 
quite  mistaken  in  thinking  that  the  joint  imposition  of 
hands  by  the  presbytery  was  due  to  a  special  concession  on 
Leighton's  part.  The  record  which  he  quotes  on  p.  581, 
runs  thus:  "The  said  reverend  Bishop  did  thairafter  by 
caling  upon  God  most  high  and  impositione  of  hands  with 
the  presbiterie  ordean  and  admitt  the  said,  etc,"  see  pp. 
viii,  558,  572. 

"« Butler,  394.  ^^p.  367,  370.  "°p.  376.      . 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  205 

lie  worship,  "particularly  from  their  most  unde- 
eent  sitting  at  prayer."  '"  He  got  the  synod  to 
join  with  him  in  enacting  that  the  Holy  Commun- 
ion should  be  celebrated  in  every  congregation  at 
least  once  every  year/'""  and  that  the  people  should 
be  catechised  more  frequently  and  more  simply."* 
Bare  and  simple  as  Church  worship  in  Leighton's 
diocese  must  have  been,  the  standard  was  no  higher 
elsewhere  in  Scotland.  The  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  was  not  used  in  public,  except  by  Gilbert 
Burnet  at  Salton,  and  at  least  for  a  short  time,  in 
the  Chapel  Eoyal  at  Holyrood,  of  which  the  Bishop 
of  Dunblane  was  the  Dean."*  The  forms  in  Knox's 
Liturgy  were  sometimes  employed,  and  at  the 
Cathedral  of  Aberdeen  part  of  the  Prayer  Book 
was  embodied  in  the  form  of  morning  and  evening 
service.  Confirmation  seems  to  have  been  entirely 
neglected,  and,  speaking  generally,  there  was  no 
great  distinction  between  the  worship  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church,  and  that  of  the  non-conforming 
Presbyterians."'' 

In  the  wider  field  of  the  ecclesiastical  politics 
of  the  nation  Leighton  strove  to  win  respect  for  his 
ideals  of  moderation.  He  never  indeed  attended 
parliament   except   when   matters   concerning   re- 


^"p.  377.  "2  p.  371.  ^"p.  386. 

^^*  Leighton  hoped  when  he  became  a  Bishop,  "that  he 
might  set  up  the  common  prayer  in  the  King's  chapel:  for 
the  rebuilding  of  which  orders  were  given."    Burnet,  I,  245. 

^^•'^Grub,  III,  217-8. 


206  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

ligion  or  the  Church  were  being  discussed,"'  nor 
did  he  approve  of  the  new  basis  on  which  Episco- 
pacy was  now  set,  with  the  Bishops,  at  least  theoret- 
ically, independent  of  the  Church  judicatories/" 
The  first  time  that  he  attended  Parliament,  he 
pressed  for  an  explanation  of  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance and  supremacy  which  was  to  be  imposed, 
but  the  motion  was  rejected/''  In  1665  he  went 
to  London  and  tendered  his  resignation  to  the  king, 
on  account  of  the  violent  measures  employed  by  the 
government,  for  which  he  felt  himself  to  be  "in 
some  sort  accessory/'"*  Charles  was  moved  with 
Leighton's  account  of  the  state  of  the  country,  and 
promising  that  gentler  methods  would  be  employed, 
persuaded  him  to  return  to  his  diocese.  Later  on, 
at  Lord  Tweeddale's  instigation,""  he  paid  another 
visit  to  Charles,  and  laid  his  views  before  him  in 
two  interviews.  And  when  the  king  was  bent 
upon  measures  of  "moderation  and  comprehen- 
sion," Leighton  was,  according  to  Burnet,  "the  only 
person  among  the  Bishops  that  declared  for  these 
methods."  "' 

His  chance  for  putting  his  views  as  to  "ac- 
commodation" ''*  with  the  Presbyterians  upon  their 


"•Burnet,  I,  253.        "^I,  253-5.  "« I,  255. 

"»I,  382. 

120  rpweeddale's  aim  was  "to  bring  in  a  set  of  Episcopal 
men  of  another  stamp,  and  to  set  Leighton  at  their  head." 
Burnet,  I,  443. 

"^  I,  496.  ^""^  See  above,  page  199. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  207 

trial  came  when  he  was  appointed  Archbishop  of 
Glasgow.  Wearied  out  by  divisions  and  conten- 
tions, and  hopeless  of  their  cure,  oppressed  too 
with  feeble  health,  and  the  "dreadful  weight"  of 
his  Episcopal  charge,  he  had  decided  by  1670  to 
resign  Dunblane  and  retire  into  private  life."'  He 
was  therefore  most  unwilling  to  accept  charge  of 
the  diocese  in  which  the  greater  part  of  the  cove- 
nanting troubles  was  located.  However,  he  was 
persuaded  by  Lauderdale  and  Tweeddale  to  accept 
the  Archbishopric.  For  his  scheme  "all  assist- 
ance" was  promised  him  from  the  government,"* 
and  Charles,  whom  Leighton  again  visited  in  Lon- 
don, signified  his  approval.  While  retaining  the 
oversight  of  Dunblane  till  1672,  he  took  charge  of 
Glasgow  in  1670,  and  was  "solemnly  invested"  at 
some  date  after  3rd  October,  1671."*  His  un- 
worldliness  was  again  shewn  by  his  refusal  to 
accept,  at  least  in  1670,  more  than  a  fifth  of  the 
income  of  Glasgow."* 

Leighton  entered  upon  his  campaign  of  con- 
ciliation with  prompt  enthusiasm.  At  a  synod  in 
Glasgow  he  urged  upon  his  disaffected  clergy  coun- 
sels of  a  spiritual  character,  which,  it  would  seem, 
sent  them  home  bewildered  and  unedified."'  Then, 
with  his  friend  Gilbert  Burnet,  he  went  on  a  tour 


^=^' Butler,  p.  435.  "*  Burnet,  I,  518-9. 

^25  Butler,  pp.  494,  495;  also  435-6. 

"M36;  n.  3.  ^"  gurnet,  I,  519-20. 


208  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

amongst  the  most  eminent  of  the  indulged  clergy 
to  explain  his  proposals  of  peace,  and  to  inform 
them  that  a  conference  would  be  held  in  Edin- 
burgh for  their  discussion.  Their  reception  was  a 
chilling  one,  and  Leighton  was  discouraged.  Yet 
he  persevered,  and  a  series  of  conferences  took 
place  between  August  1670  and  January  1671  in 
Edinburgh  and  elsewhere.  Burnet  says  that  "the 
far  greater  part  of  the  nation"  approved  of  Leigh- 
ton's  scheme,"^  but  those  immediately  concerned 
would  have  none  of  it.  Sharp  viewed  the  proposal 
to  abolish  the  veto  of  the  Bishops  as  an  under- 
mining of  Episcopacy,  while  the  "inferior"  clergy 
"hated  the  whole  thing."  The  "bigot  Presby- 
terians" thought  it  was  a  snare,  and  rejected  the 
offer.  The  only  elBFect  of  Leighton's  effort  was  a 
temporary  lull  in  the  storm.  "Ye  west  sea  is  at 
present  pretty  calm,"  he  wrote  to  Lauderdale,  "and 
wee  are  in  a  tolerable  degree  of  quiet."  "* 

A  similar  result  attended  the  Archbishop's  plan 
of  sending  six  Episcopal  divines  through  the  west- 
ern counties,  to  preach  in  vacant  churches,  and 
to  assist  the  Episcopal  clergy  where  the  congre- 
gations were  refractory.  Their  mission  was  to 
commend  the  accommodation,  and  to  induce  the 
people  to  frequent  the  public  ordinances."**  Burnet, 
who  was  one  of  "Leighton's  Evangelists,"  says'" 


«« I,  522.  "» Butler,  p.  455.         i««  Ibid.,  p.  438. 

"1  Burnet,  I,  524. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  209 

that  the  people  came  to  hear  them,  though  not  in 
great  crowds.  They  were  amazed  to  find  that  the 
meanest  of  them,  ^^their  cottagers,  and  their  ser- 
vants" were  so  able  and  so  ready  to  argue  about 
points  of  government  and  on  the  limits  to  the 
spiritual  power  of  princes.  They  had  texts  of 
scripture  and  answers  at  every  point,  but  they  were 
^^vain  of  their  knowledge,  much  conceited  of  them- 
selves, and  were  full  of  a  much  entangled  scrupu- 
losity." Although  for  a  time  the  conventicles  be- 
came lest  frequent,  a  set  of  ^^hot  preachers"  soon 
obliterated  any  good  results  that  Burnet  and  his 
colleagues  may  have  effected,  by  going  round 
wherever  they  had  been,  and  telling  the  people 
that  "the  Devil  was  never  so  formidable,  as  when 
he  was  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light."  "^ 

Yet  something  was  effected  in  the  way  of  con- 
ciliation. An  Indulgence  had  been  offered  in 
1669,  by  which  over  forty  ejected  ministers  who 
lived  "peaceably  and  orderly"  were  reinstated  in 
parishes,  and  in  1672  by  a  second  Indulgence 
about  eighty  were  similarly  restored.  But  to 
Leighton  the  ultimate  outlook  seemed  little  better 
than  before.  Kind  and  tolerant  as  he  was  to- 
wards the  irreconcilables,  he  spoke  sharply  enough 
about  their  attitude.  "I  confess  I  have  a  doubt," 
he  says,  "...  whether  it  were  wisely  done,  or  to 
any  purpose  at  all,  to  offer  a  right  reason  to  any 

"'^  I,  525. 


210  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

man  when  it  hath  come  in  his  head  to  offer  such 
scruples  as  these. "''^  He  was  now  thoroughly 
tired  of  the  "wild  and  insolent  attempts"  of  "that 
forward  party /^''*  "drunk  with  opinion  of  them- 
selves," '"  and  he  even  seems  to  have  acquiesced  in 
the  opinion  that  "those  coercions  and  civil  re- 
straints" which  had  been  intermitted  would  need  to 
be  renewed."" 

Doubtless  it  was  partly  in  order  to  avoid  par- 
ticipation in  such  a  course  that  the  Archbishop 
went  to  London  in  1673"'  and  placed  his  resigna- 
tion in  the  king's  hands.  His  want  of  sympathy 
with  the  whole  trend  of  Episcopal  government 
since  his  consecration,  especially  with  the  oppres- 
sive policy  of  Lauderdale  and  the  executive,  the 
difficulty  of  managing  his  troublesome  diocese,  and 
his  inability  to  find  proper  men  to  fill  the  vacant 
charges  in  it,  together  with  the  failure  of  his  own 
"Accommodation,"  made  him  utterly  weary  and 
hopeless.  All  that  Charles  could  do  was  to  com- 
mand him  to  stay  in  his  office  for  another  year. 
His  desire  was  to  live  and  die  in  the  communion  of 
the  Church  of  England,"^  and  accordingly,  when 
relieved  from  office  in  1674,  after  staying  for  a 
time  in  his  rooms  in  Edinburgh  University,"*  he 
retired  to  live  with  his  sister  at  Broadhurst,  in 
Horsted  Keynes,  Sussex. 


'  Butler,  p.  462.       "*  p.  467.  ""  p.  468. 

«Cf.,  p.  459;  n.  2.       "^  p.  458.       "« p.  480.      "»p.  501. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  211 

The  last  ten  years  of  Leighton's  life  were  spent 
very  quietly  in  study  and  good  works.  He  was 
continually  employed  in  preaching  and  taking  ser- 
vice in  the  parish  where  he  lived  and  in  the  vicin- 
ity; and  Burnet,  who  was  his  almoner  in  London, 
says  that  he  gave  away  all  that  he  had  in  charities. 
Yet  his  thoughts  often  went  back  with  longing  to 
Scotland.  The  Church  of  England  seemed  on 
closer  knowledge  ^^like  a  fair  carcase  of  a  body 
without  a  spirit,"  and  he  lamented  ^^the  shameful 
advances  that  we  seemed  to  be  making  towards 
popery.""  Indeed  there  was  at  one  time  a  pros- 
pect of  his  returning  to  work  in  Scotland.  After 
the  brutal  murder  of  his  late  colleague.  Archbishop 
Sharp,  on  Magus  Muir  in  1679,  the  covenanters 
routed  Graham  of  Claverhouse  at  Drumclog,  and 
were  in  turn  defeated  by  the  Duke  of  Monmouth 
at  Bothwell  Brig.  Monmouth  was  in  favour  of 
peaceful  measures,  and  persuaded  Charles  to  write 
to  Leighton  asking  him  to  go  to  Scotland  and  use 
his  influence  in  persuading  the  nonconformists  to 
ways  of  concord,  "till  you  resolve  to  serve  me  in 
a  stated  employment."  '" 

This  however  was  not  to  be.  Monmouth's  in- 
fluence did  not  last,  and  until  his  death  in  1684 
Leighton  passed  his  days  in  peaceful  retirement. 
The  manner  of  his  end  was  as  he  had  often  wished, 
to  die  in  an  inn.     He  had  come  to  London,  at 


'  Burnet,  II,  428-9.       "^  Butler,  p.  506. 


212  BIOGRAPHICAL  8TUDIE8 

Burnet's  request,  and  put  up  at  the  Bell  Inn^"  in 
Warwick  Lane,  under  the  shadow  of  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral.  To  his  friend  he  seemed  to  be  sur- 
prisingly fresh  and  well.  ^^His  hair  was  still 
black,  and  all  his  motions  were  lively :  he  had  the 
same  quickness  of  thought  and  strength  of  mem- 
ory, but  above  all  the  same  heat  and  life  of  devo- 
tion, that  I  had  ever  seen  in  him."  '*'  But  Leigh- 
ton  felt  that  "his  work  and  journey  were  now  al- 
most done."  Next  day  he  was  ill  with  pleurisy, 
and  on  the  25th  of  June,  1684,  his  saintly  spirit 
found  the  rest  for  which  he  had  so  often  longed  in 
vain. 

Such  a  character  as  Leighton's  needs  no  pane- 
gyric. He  was  a  man  apart  from  his  fellows,  both 
in  holiness  and  spiritual  perception,  who  strove 
faithfully  to  do  his  duty  to  God  and  man  in  a 
difficult  world.  And  if  he  failed  to  accomplish 
what  he  hoped,  the  story  of  what  he  tried  to  do 
is  a  splendid  heritage  for  Scotland,  and  one  which 
may  yet  help  to  bring  about  the  happy  consumma- 
tion for  which  he  worked  and  prayed. 


"2  Now  demolished.       "'  Burnet,  II,  427. 


STATUE    OF   BISHOP   JOHN    SKINNER 

Flaxman 

In   St.   Andrew's  Cathedral,  Aberdeen 


VI-THE  DAYS  OF  THE  PENAL  LAWS 

John  Skinner  of  Linshart 

Presbyter  and  Poet 

(1721—1807) 

Five  years  had  not  passed  after  the  death  of 
the  good  Archbishop  Leighton,  when  the  ecclesias- 
tical system  for  which  he  had  laboured  so  de- 
votedly, and  of  which  his  own  life  and  character 
had  been  so  precious  an  adornment,  was,  for  the 
last  time,  removed  from  its  privileged  position  as 
the  established  form  of  religion  in  Scotland.  The 
accession  in  1685  of  the  Roman  Catholic  king 
James,  Second  of  England  and  Seventh  of  Scot- 
land, was  followed  by  a  period  of  misrule  which 
filled  the  cup  to  the  brim,  and  resulted  in  the  down- 
fall of  the  Stuart  dynasty.  In  the  end  of  1688 
James  had  fled  from  his  kingdom,  and  William  of 
Orange  was  more  or  less  securely  seated  on  the 
vacant  throne.  Amongst  all  the  great  and  nu- 
merous changes  which  this  political  revolution 
brought  about,  one  of  the  most  striking  and  im- 
portant was  the  overthrow  of  Episcopacy  in  Scot- 
land and  the  establishment  of  Presbyterianism  in 
its  place. 

This  event  was  full  of  far-reaching  consequences 


214  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

which  could  not  be  realised  at  the  time.  The  re- 
ligious equilibrium  of  Scotland,  which  since  1560 
had  resulted  in  what  has  been  referred  to  as  a  see- 
saw condition  of  things,  now  began  to  disappear 
under  the  stress  of  new  influences  and  circum- 
stances, which  reduced  Scottish  Episcopacy  to  the 
"shadow  of  a  shade."  The  romantic  but  disas- 
trous loyalty  of  the  Scottish  Bishops  and  a  great 
part  of  their  clergy  and  people  to  the  Stuart  cause 
was  the  main  reason  of  this  change.  The  refusal 
of  the  Bishops  to  acknowledge  William  of  Orange 
as  their  rightful  king  compelled  that  monarch  to 
acquiesce  in  the  disestablishment  of  Scottish  Epis- 
copacy; and  the  subsequent  share  taken  by  Epis- 
copalians in  the  Jacobite  risings  of  1715  and  1745 
brought  down  upon  their  unfortunate  Church  the 
vengeance  of  the  government  in  the  shape  of  op- 
pressive penal  laws,  whose  object  was  to  stamp  out 
Episcopacy  in  Scotland.  The  result  of  these  penal 
laws  was,  as  their  authors  desired,  to  diminish 
sadly  the  number  of  those  who  still  clung  to  their 
Church,  and  the  wonder  is  that  any  adherents  of 
the  proscribed  faith  were  left.  But  a  faithful 
remnant  was  found,  especially  in  the  North-eastern 
part  of  Scotland,  whom  no  persecutions  or  disas- 
ters could  move  from  their  allegiance,  and  who 
kept  the  Church's  lamp  alight  in  the  hour  of  its 
greatest  depression  and  distress.  It  does  not  there- 
fore seem  too  much  to  say  that,  while  the  present 
Presbyterian    establishment    in    all    probability 


8C0TTI8H  CHURCH  HISTORY  215 

owes  its  origin  to  the  political  exigencies  of  Wil- 
liam of  Orange,  it  derived  its  present  great  nu- 
merical ascendancy  from  those  of  George  of  Han- 
over and  his  son. 

The  story  of  the  efforts  which  William  of 
Orange  made  to  secure  the  support  of  the  adher- 
ents of  Episcopacy  in  Scotland  is  a  curious  one, 
and  reveals  the  ecclesiastical  possibilities  which 
for  a  short  time  existed.  While  still  in  Holland, 
William  had  formed  the  policy  of  overthrowing 
the  established  form  of  religion  in  Scotland,  be- 
lieving as  he  did,  on  the  authority  of  his  Presby- 
terian adviser,  William  Carstares,  that  it  had  little 
support  in  the  country.  On  coming  to  England, 
however,  he  found  out  more  accurately  the  state 
of  affairs,  and  would  seem  to  have  changed  his 
mind.  Bishop  Eose  of  Edinburgh,  who  had  been 
commissioned  by  his  brother  Bishops  in  Scotland 
at  the  end  of  1688  to  repair  to  London  for  the 
purpose  of  tendering  their  duty  to  King  James, 
and  of  conferring  with  the  English  prelates  on 
the  state  of  affairs,  found  on  reaching  the  capital 
that  the  Revolution  had  taken  place,  and  that  his 
aim  must  now  be  to  labour  for  the  preservation  of 
the  ecclesiastical  statics  quo  in  Scotland.  Such  a 
task  was  indeed  a  difficult  and  embarrassing  one 
for  an  envoy  who  would  not  wait  on  William,  nor 
congratulate  him  on  the  success  of  his  expedition ;  ^ 

^  Grub.    Ecclesiastical  History  of  Scotland,  III,  296,  297. 


216  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  yet  William  shewed  a  singular  readiness  to 
come  to  terms.  Dr.  Compton,  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, was  empowered  by  the  king  to  inform  Rose 
that  "if  you  will  undertake  to  serve  him  to  the 
purpose  that  he  is  served  here  in  England,  he  will 
take  you  by  the  hand,  support  the  Church  and 
order,  and  throw  off  the  Presbyterians."  ^ 

Even  after  Rose  had  rejected  this  advance 
William  made  a  personal  appeal  to  him.  In  order 
to  procure  a  pass  for  his  return  to  Scotland  the 
Scottish  Bishop  at  last  sought  an  audience  at 
Whitehall,  when  a  short  but  dramat'c  interview 
took  place.  "My  Lord,"  said  the  king,  "are  you  go- 
ing for  Scotland?"  The  Bishop  answered,  "Yes 
Sir,  if  you  have  any  commands  for  me."  The  prince 
replied,  "I  hope  you  will  be  kind  to  me,  and  follow 
the  example  of  England."  Rose  was  "something 
difficulted  how  to  make  a  mannerly  and  discreet 
answer  without  entangling"  himself,  but  replied, 
"Sir,  I  will  serve  you  so  far  as  law,  reason,  or  con- 
science, shall  allow  me."  The  prince  turned  on 
his  heel  without  another  word,  and  the  Bishop 
soon  afterwards  returned  to  Scotland.*  i^or  was 
this  the  last  chance  which  William  held  out  to  the 
Episcopal  party.  On  the  eve  of  the  Parliament- 
ary Convention  of  1689,  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  its 
president,  endeavoured  to  win  over  the  primate  and 
the  Bishop  of  Edinburgh  to  the  side  of  William, 

2  Grub,  III,  297.  «  Grub,  III,  297-8. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  217 

assuring  them  that  he  had  it  in  special  charge 
from  William,  that  nothing  should  be  done  to  the 
prejudice  of  Episcopacy  if  the  Bishops  would  sup- 
port him,  and  entreating  them  to  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Church  of  England. 

These  facts  make  it  difficult  to  resist  the  con- 
clusion that  the  parliamentary  proceedings  which 
resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  Episcopacy  and  the 
establishment  of  Presbyterianism  might  have  been 
so  engineered  as  to  produce  an  entirely  different  re- 
sult, but  for  the  loyalty  of  the  Bishops  to  their 
Jacobite  principles.  As  it  was,  however,  the  Claim 
of  Right  was  passed  in  April,  1869,  embodying  the 
famous  declaration  that  "Prelacy  and  superiority 
of  any  office  in  the  Church  above  presbyters  is, 
and  hath  been,  a  great  and  unsupportable  griev- 
ance and  trouble  to  this  nation,  and  contrary  to 
the  inclinations  of  the  generality  of  the  people 
ever  since  the  reformation,  they  having  been  re- 
formed from  Popery  by  presbyters,  and  therefore 
ought  to  be  abolished."*  On  July  22nd  Prelacy 
was  abolished,  and  it  was  left  to  the  king  and 
queen,  with  consent  of  parliament,  to  settle  that 
church  government  which  was  most  agreeable  to 
the  inclinations  of  the  people.  "^  During  the  next 
session  of  Parliament,  which  met  on  15th  April, 
1690,  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  was 
approved,  the  Presbyterian  form  of  Church  gov- 

*Grub,  III,  299-300.  '^  Ihid.,  303. 


218  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

ernment  and  discipline  was  established,  and  the 
exercise  of  Church  government  in  Scotland  was 
entrusted  to  some  sixty  ministers  who  had  been 
deprived  since  1661,  and  who  were  now  restored 
to  their  benefices,  and  to  such  ministers  and  elders 
as  they  should  admit.  *  One  marked  feature  of 
the  new  establishment  was  that  the  National  Cove- 
nant and  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  were 
dropped,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  the  Cameronians 
of  the  west. 

The  statement  in  the  Claim  of  Eight  which  has 
been  quoted  above  is  doubtless  responsible  for  the 
belief  which  is  still  shared  by  many  respectable 
Presbyterian  writers,  that  the  ecclesiastical  revo- 
lution of  1689-90  was  accomplished  by  a  wave  of 
popular  indignation  on  the  part  of  the  people  of 
Scotland  against  Episcopacy-  Yet  although  that 
statement  may  truly  have  represented  the  opinions 
of  the  parliamentary  majority  who  managed  to 
pass  it,^  its  accuracy  is  another  question  altogether. 
It  so  happens  that  we  have  the  opinions  of  un- 
biased witnesses  about  the  time  of  the  revolution, 
as  to  the  strength  of  Episcopacy  in  Scotland,  which 
throw  a  very  different  light  on  the  matter.  Lord 
Tarbet,  writing  in  1689  says  ^^the  Presbyterians 
are  the  more  zealous  and  hotter;  the  other  more 
numerous  and  powerful,"  while  in  the  following 
year  the  zealous  Presbyterian,  General  Mackay, 

«/6id,  305.  ''Grub,  III,  299. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  219 

declares  "let  men  flatter  themselves  as  they  will,  I 
tell  you  who  know  Scotland,  and  where  the 
strength  and  weakness  of  it  doth  lie,  that  if  I  were 
as  much  an  enemy  to  that  interest  (i.e.,  of  Presby- 
terianism)  as  I  am  a  friend,  I  would  without  dif- 
ficulty engage  to  form  in  Scotland  a  more  formid- 
able party  against  it,  even  for  their  majesties'  gov- 
ernment, than  can  be  formed  for  it/'^  To  which 
may  be  added  the  later  testimony  of  the  Presby- 
terian Carlyle  of  Inveresk,  that  in  1689  and  later 
"more  than  two-thirds  of  the  people  of  the  country, 
and  most  of  the  gentry  were  Episcopals."  " 

Whatever  weight  be  given  to  these  testimonies, 
it  is  clear  that  Episcopacy  in  1689  was,  to  say  the 
least,  not  "contrary  to  the  inclination  of  the  gen- 
erality of  the  people."  As  the  late  Principal 
Story  admits,  "the  ^Revolution  Settlement'  was  of 
all  conceivable  settlements,  the  most  ^Erastian.'  "^* 
The  voice  of  the  Church  was  not  consulted, 
and  the  request  made  by  the  synod  of  Aberdeen 
that  the  ecclesiastical  polity  should  be  settled  by  a 
free  General  Assembly  was  rejected  by  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1689,  knowing  as  it  did  that  the  vote  of 
the  majority  would  have  been  for  Episcopacy." 
Dr.  Grub's  statement  as  to  the  religious  sympa- 


*  See  authorities  in  Grub,  III,  317. 
®  Autobiography,  p.  249. 

^^  William   CoAStares,   p.    187.     The   Restoration   Settle- 
ment had  been  equally  Erastian. 
"  lUd.,  p.  186. 


220  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

thies  of  Scotland  is  as  follows.  In  the  south  west- 
ern counties  the  covenanting  Cameronians  pre- 
vailed, and  in  the  south  generally  Episcopacy  was 
unpopular.  Between  the  Forth  and  the  Tay  the 
parties  were  more  equally  divided,  while  north  of 
the  Tay  the  supporters  of  Episcopacy  were  much 
superior  in  number." 

Some  modern  Episcopalian  writers  have  cen- 
sured the  Scottish  Bishops  for  allowing  the  church 
to  be  disestablished  when  submission  to  William 
would  have  saved  it,  but  such  an  opinion  could  only 
arise  from  a  defective  historical  imagination.  Had 
the  Bishops  at  this  point  abandoned  the  Stuart 
cause  they  would,  as  Grub  maintains,  have  violated 
every  principle  of  honour  and  duty.'*  Besides, 
they  had  good  reason  to  expect  a  speedy  turn  of 
fortune's  wheel,  which  would  undo  the  work  of 
1689.  And  so  they  went  cheerfully  out  into  the 
wilderness,  little  imagining  how  long  and  how  bit- 
ter their  exile  was  to  be.  And  although  poverty 
and  persecution  was  the  Church's  lot  hereafter, 
and  she  never  regained  her  temporal  power  as  she 
hoped,  her  trial  was  one  which  purged  and  puri- 
fied her,  and  which  brought  her  spiritual  blessings 
and  a  consciousness  of  her  special  mission,  which 
might  never  otherwise  have  come  to  her. 

During  William's  reign  no  effort  was  made  to 
compel  the  Episcopal  laity  to  conform  to  Presby- 

"III,  316.  "Ill,  301. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  221 

terianism,  and  it  was  thus  possible  for  the  Bishops 
and  clergy  to  maintain  without  difficulty  an  eccles- 
iastical organization  distinct  and  separate  from 
that  of  the  establishment.  This  separation  be- 
tween Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians  had  been 
prepared  for  by  the  rise  of  the  Cameronians,  to- 
gether with  the  Indulgence  of  Charles  and  the 
Toleration  of  James,  but  considering  the  scale  on 
which  it  was  effected,  it  formed  a  new  departure 
in  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Scotland.  It  can- 
not indeed  be  said  that  the  Bishops  rose  to  the 
opportunity  which  presented  itself  in  this  connec- 
tion. Had  they  possessed  a  man  of  outstanding 
genius,  to  organise  the  disestablished  church,  to 
devise  means  for  its  financial  support,  and  to  furn- 
ish it  with  a  policy,  the  course  of  events  might 
have  been  very  different.  But  these  good  and 
worthy  prelates,  dispossessed  of  their  sees  and 
their  incomes,  and  hampered  by  their  relations 
with  ^^the  king  across  the  water,"  effaced  them- 
selves from  public  notice  and  became  what  Vis- 
count Dundee  described  as  "the  Kirk  invisible." 
When  vacancies  were  made  in  their  number  by 
death,  they  did  not  venture  to  fill  up  the  sees  with- 
out Stuart  royal  authority,'*  but  simply  conse- 
crated "non-ruling"  Bishops  to  continue  the  Epis- 
copal   succession,    EuUarton,    Sage    the    scholar, 

"Represented  by  a  body  of  trustees,  of  which  Lockhart 
of  Carnwarth  was  the  chief  member. 


222  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Archibald  Campbell,  grandson  of  the  covenanting 
Marquis  of  Argyll,  and  others. 

Of  the  clergy  a  large  number  in  the  west  had 
been  dispossessed  on  Christmas  Day,  1688,  by  the 
Cameronians  under  circumstances  of  great  vio- 
lence and  hardship,  in  the  course  of  what  was 
called  the  "rabbling  of  the  curates."  Many  others 
in  the  south  had  been  deprived  after  the  13th  of 
April,  1689,  for  refusing  to  pray  for  William  and 
Mary,  while  others  were  removed  to  make  room 
for  the  sixty  Presbyterian  ministers  who  were 
reinstated  to  their  former  charges  in  April,  1690. 
Very  many  others  were  ejected  from  their  livings 
in  the  south  and  elsewhere  by  the  ecclesiastical 
courts,  but  in  the  northern  and  central  provinces 
most  of  those  who  took  the  oaths  remained  in 
possession  of  their  livings,  and  were  even  suc- 
ceeded by  Episcopal  incumbents.*'*  Of  the  deprived 
clergy  some  found  ecclesiastical  appointments  in 
England,  Ireland,  and  the  colonies,  others  resided 
in  the  families  of  Episcopalian  gentry  and  nobil- 
ity, while  others  were  supported  by  those  attend- 
ing their  meeting-houses.  Sums  of  money  were 
also  collected  for  the  support  of  distressed  and 
destitute  clergy  and  their  families." 

William's  policy  of  moderation  in  ecclesiasti- 
cal matters,  and  his  continual  efforts  to  curb  the 

"  So  late  as   1707  there  were   165  Episcopal  Ministers 
in  their  parishes  in  spite  of  all  efforts  to  dislodge  them. 
"Grub,  III,  315. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  223 

Presbyterian  courts  in  their  harsh  treatment  of  the 
Episcopal  clergy  rendered  the  lot  of  the  disestab- 
lished Church  a  fairly  tolerable  one,  and  during  the 
reign  of  the  good  Queen  Anne  matters  became  more 
prosperous  still.  The  queen  had  much  sympathy 
for  the  struggling  Church  in  Scotland,  and  did 
much  to  protect  it.  A  Toleration  Act  was  passed 
in  1712,  declaring  the  liberty  of  Episcopal  wor- 
ship under  espiscopally  ordained  pastors,  with  the 
right  to  use  the  English  Prayer  Book.  It  was  dur- 
ing this  time  that  the  use  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  became  prevalent  in  Scotland.  Nineteen 
thousand  copies  were  sent  for  distribution  by  sym- 
pathisers in  England,  and  the  clergy  were  em- 
boldened to  use  the  English  liturgical  forms  openly, 
both  in  chapel  and  by  the  grave-side. 

This  happier  state  of  things  however  was  only 
the  sunshine  before  the  storm.  The  death  of  Queen 
Anne  in  1714  and  the  accession  of  George  of  Han- 
over ushered  in  days  of  dire  disaster  for  the  cause 
of  Scottish  Episcopacy.  When  the  Earl  of  Mar 
raised  the  Stuart  standard  in  1715,  many  of  his 
chief  supporters  were  members  of  the  Episcopal 
Church,  and  the  Jacobite  clergy  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  movement.  It  was  therefore  only  nat- 
ural that  when  the  rash  and  ill-managed  affair 
ended  in  failure  after  Sheriffmuir  and  Preston, 
the  defeated  side  should  suffer  for  their  mistake. 
The  policy  of  the  Hanoverian  government  how- 
ever went  beyond  the  punishment  of  individuals, 


224  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  a  blow  was  struck  at  their  religion.  In  Edin- 
burgh most  of  the  clergy  were  fined''  for  not  having 
registered  their  letters  of  orders  and  for  not  pray- 
ing for  King  George,  and  in  the  diocese  of  Aber- 
deen thirty-six  clergy,  of  whom  two-thirds  were 
still  parochial  ministers,  were  ejected  from  their 
charges,  in  several  cases  by  the  aid  of  soldiers. 
Similar  proceedings  took  place  elsewhere. 

In  1719  the  first  Penal  Act  fell  upon  the  de- 
voted Church.  By  this  measure  no  person  was 
permitted  to  officiate  in  any  Episcopal  meeting- 
house or  congregation  where  nine  or  more  persons 
were  present  in  addition  to  the  members  of  the 
household,  without  praying  in  express  words  for 
King  George  and  the  royal  family,  and  without 
having  taken  the  oath  of  abjuration,  under  the  pen- 
alty of  six  months'  imprisonment,  and  of  having 
the  meeting-house  shut  up  for  the  same  period. 
One  result  of  this  act  was  the  formation  of  ^^quali- 
fied" congregations,  consisting  largely  of  English 
families,  who  had  no  objections  to  its  provisions. 
These  were  eventually  disowned  by  the  Jacobite 
Bishops  and  a  breach  was  formed  between  English 
and  Scottish  Episcopalians  in  Scotland,  whose 
effects  have  not  yet  quite  passed  away. 

One  of  the  most  outstanding  and  representa- 
tive figures  of  the  Church  during  the  long  period 
of  distress  and  oppression  which  was  now  ushered 

"George  wished  their  meeting-houses  to  be  closed,  but 
the  judicial  authorities  pled  legal  difficulties. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  225 

in,  is  that  of  Jolm  Skinner  the  famous  parson  of 
Longside,  in  the  Buehan  district  of  Aberdeenshire. 
Although  his  lot  in  life  was  to  minister  to  a  large 
country  congregation,  with  a  daily  round  of  labor- 
ious duties,  and  poverty  as  his  earthly  guerdon,  his 
character  and  his  gifts  of  head  and  heart  were 
such  as  to  render  him  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  his  day  in  the  north  of  Scotland.  As  a 
poet  of  real  genius  he  shed  no  little  lustre  upon  his 
native  country,  and  commanded  the  unfeigned  ad- 
miration of  his  younger  contemporary  and  corres- 
pondent Kobert  Burns.  His  best  songs  have  long 
ago  taken  their  place  among  the  imperishable  ele- 
ments of  our  national  literature,  and  although  the 
fruits  of  his  learning  were  of  a  less  durable  na- 
ture, he  was  on  his  own  lines  one  of  the  best  theo- 
logians and  scholars  of  his  day  in  Scotland.  But  it 
is  also  as  a  Churchman  that  Skinner  has  a  claim 
upon  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of  many  of  his 
fellow-countrymen.  Not  only  was  he  one  of  those 
who  suflFered  in  person  and  in  possessions  from  the 
operation  of  the  penal  laws,  but  at  the  most  dis- 
tressful and  critical  epoch  of  the  Church's  his- 
tory he  stood  out  pre-eminent  among  its  defend- 
ers," and  to  him  probably  more  than  to  any  other 
man  is  to  be  credited  the  rescue  of  Scottish  Epis- 


^*  The  stamp  of  his  mind  is  on  almost  everything  that  is- 
sued from  the  Northern  press  in  the  interests  of  his  Church 
for  three-quarters  of  a  century.  Walker,  Life  and  Times 
of  Dean  Skinner,  p.  4. 


226  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

copacy  from  the  rut  into  which  it  had  fallen,  as  a 
politico-religious  body  apparently  doomed  to 
speedy  extinction  by  its  adherence  to  Jacobite 
principles.  Nor  is  it  to  be  forgotten  that  John 
Skinner  was  the  progenitor  of  a  long  line  of  dis- 
tinguished Scottish  ecclesiastics  which  continues  to 
the  present  day.  Both  his  son  and  his  grandson 
occupied  the  position  of  Bishop  of  Aberdeen  and 
of  Primus,"  while  his  great-great-grandson,  the 
present  Dean  of  the  Cathedral  and  Diocese  of  Ed- 
inburgh, upholds  worthily  the  ecclesiastical  tradi- 
tions of  his  family. 

It  was  at  Balfour,  among  the  hills  of  Birse  on 
Deeside  in  Aberdeenshire,  that  Skinner  was  born. 
His  father  was  a  distinguished  member  of  the 
brotherhood  of  parish  dominies  who  for  centuries 
played  so  valuable  and  so  characteristic  a  part  in 
the  education  of  Scotland.  He  was  noted  in  his 
day  for  the  number  of  country  lads  whom  he  pre- 
pared for  the  university,  and  he  is  described  by  a 
contemporary  writer,  Ramsay  of  Ochtertyre,  as 
"a  very  learned  and  worthy  man,  placed  in  cir- 
cumstances nowise  adequate  to  his  merit."  '^^  He 
was  also,  according  to  the  same  authority,  a  zeal- 
ous whig  and  Presbyterian,  therefore  little  pre- 
pared to  sympathise  with  his  son's  career  as  an 
adherent   of  Episcopacy.     After  the  latter's   de- 

^*  The  elective  President  of  the  body  of  Scottish  Bishops. 
^'^  Scotland   and   Scotsmen   in   the   Eighteenth   Century, 
Edited  by  A.  Allardyce,  p.  520. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  227 

fection  from  Presbyterianism  he  said  to  him  one 
day,  ^^John,  he  who  changes  once  may  change 
again.  When  you  take  that  step  next  whether  will 
you  turn  Papist  or  Quaker  ?''  The  younger  John 
had  at  all  times  the  happy  gift  of  turning  an  awk- 
ward comer  by  a  witty  answer,  and  on  this  occa- 
sion he  replied:  "Sir,  that  is  like  asking  a  man 
to  choose  between  gout  and  the  gravel."^^ 

Skinner  lost  his  mother,  who  had  been  the 
widow  of  the  Laird  of  Balfour,  Mr.  Donald  Far- 
quharson,  at  the  time  of  her  second  marriage,  while 
he  was  still  an  infant,  and  his  father  soon  after- 
wards removed  to  the  parish  school  of  Echt,  twelve 
miles  from  Aberdeen.  There  in  due  course  the  boy 
was  prepared  for  entrance  to  Marischal  college,  of 
which  he  became  a  bursar  at  the  age  of  thirteen. 
During  his  academic  course  the  young  student 
shewed  great  proficiency  in  the  composition  of 
Latin  verse,  a  pursuit  in  which  he  took  delight  to 
the  end  of  his  life.  According  to  Eamsay  he  be- 
came very  intimate  at  this  time  with  some  of  the 
Aberdeen  Episcopal  clergy,  who  induced  him  to 
adopt  their  views  and  principles,"  but  this  is  prob- 
ably to  put  the  case  too  strongly.  He  may  have 
then  gained  an  acquaintance  and  a  sympathy  with 
Episcopal  principles  which  afterwards  bore  fruit, 
but  the  definite  change  seems  to  have  come  later. 

In  an  unpublished  letter  dated  Linshart,  March 

"  lUd.,  p.  521.  22  j^i^ 


228  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

28,  1797/'  Skinner  gives  a  graphic  and  short  ac- 
count of  his  career,  which  is  of  considerable  bio- 
graphical interest.  "My  lot  in  life,"  he  says,  "has 
much  prevented  the  improvement  of  that  portion 
of  talents  wch  the  Divine  goodness  had  bestow'd 
upon  me,  and  checked  me  in  many  pursuits  that 
I  was  fond  of  and  (foolishly  perhaps)  f ancy'd  my- 
self fit  for.  Brought  up  a  Presbyterian  at  the  feet 
of  one  of  the  then  Gamaliels,  sent  abroad  into  the 
wide  world  after  my  academical  courses  in  the  17th 
year  of  my  age  wt  not  a  shilling  in  my  pocket, 
nor  any  friend  to  support  me,  taught  a  country 
school  for  18  months  when  I  gave  it  up  as  incon- 
sistent wt  the  principles  I  had  then  adopted,  and 
wt  one  solitary  guinea  went  up  to  Edinburgh  to 
push  my  fortune,  engag'd  there  to  go  to  Shetland 
to  teach  a  Gentleman's  son,  where,  after  a  year's 
hard  and  unsuccessful  labour  wt  a  blockhead,  I 
married  when  but  tum'd  of  20  a  poor  Clergyman's 
daughter  of  much  the  same  age,  came  back  to  this 
country,  where,  after  half  a  year's  waiting  and 
wandring,  I  was  ordained  by  the  venerable  Bishop 
Dunbar  heatae  memoriae,  and  settled  when  just 
turn'd  of  21  in  my  present  laborious  and  extensive 
charge  upon  25£s  for  many  years  till  it  has  at 
last  crept  up  to  near  50,  was  plunder'd  of  my  few 
books  and  clothes  in  46,  was  imprison'd  for  6 
months  in  53,  since  when  I  have  put  3  sons  to 

^^  To  the  Reverend  Mr.  Johnathan  Boucher,  Vicar  of  Ep- 
som, Surrey. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  229 

College,  have  rigg'd  out  3  for  America  two  of  whom 
are  dead,  and  have  married  out  4  daughters." 

Skinner's  dominie  days  were  spent  in  two  Ab- 
erdeenshire villages,  Kemnay  and  Monymusk.  The 
latter  spot,  nestling  by  the  river  Don  amongst 
the  hills  that  culminate  in  Ben-achie,  is  one  of  the 
most  lovely  on  Donside.  The  young  man's  poetic 
qualities  found  stimulus  amidst  his  beautiful  sur- 
roundings and  he  threw  off  a  number  of  poems,  ^^il- 
lustrative of  local  scenery  and  events."  ^*'  The 
most  famous  of  these  productions  was  a  long  poem 
in  the  most  Doric  Aberdeenshire  dialect,  entitled 
"The  Monymusk  Christmas  Ba'ing,"  in  which  the 
rough-and-tumble  incidents  of  an  annual  game  of 
football ''  played  by  the  village  worthies  are  de- 
scribed with  rare  humour  and  Homeric  vigour.  Al- 
though written  in  imitation  of  that  old  and  famous 
poem  of  royal  authorship,  "Chrystis  Kirk  on  the 
Green,"  which  Skinner  had  committed  to  memory 
before  he  was  twelve  years  old,  and  which  in  later 
life  he  translated  into  Latin  verse,  the  "Ba'ing" 
has  both  originality  and  individual  power,  and 
still  retains  its  popularity  in  the  North  of  Scot- 
land. 

It  was  during  his  sojourn  at  Monymusk  that 
Skinner  came  to  the  great  decision  of  his  life,  and 


2^  Walker,  pp.  6-13. 

^^  This  custom  was  once  common  in  Aberdeenshire,  but 
is  now  heard  of  only  in  one  or  two  towns  in  the  North  of 
Scotland,  and  towards  the  border. 


230  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

accepted  the  principles  of  Episcopacy.  Of  the 
reasons  which  induced  the  young  man  to  throw 
in  his  lot  with  a  proscribed  and  impoverished 
Church,  we  have  no  record.  It  would  seem  that 
much  was  due  to  the  influence  of  the  Eev.  Alex- 
ander Lunan,  the  Episcopal  minister  of  the  district, 
and  perhaps  something  was  owing  to  Lady  Grant 
of  Monymusk,  who  was  greatly  interested  in  the 
poetical  productions  of  the  young  schoolmaster. 
Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  wisdom  of  this 
step,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its  imselfishness. 
With  his  eyes  open  Skinner  gave  up  the  career  as 
a  parish  minister  to  which  his  schoolmastering  was 
meant  to  lead,  and  embraced  a  life  of  genteel  pov- 
erty, in  which  his  great  talents  never  received  ade- 
quate scope  or  recognition. 

Proceeding  to  Edinburgh  with  his  ^^one  solitary 
guinea"  in  his  pocket,  Skinner  found  a  friend  in 
the  Jacobite  parson  of  Leith,  the  Eev.  Robert 
Forbes,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Koss  and  Caithness, 
and  compiler  of  The  Lyon  in  Mourning.^''  Forbes 
not  only  re-baptized  and  presented  for  confirma- 
tion the  young  convert,  but  found  him  a  situation 
as  tutor  to  the  only  son  of  Mr.  Robert  Sinclair,  of 
Scalloway  in  Shetland."  The  following  entry  in 
Forbes's  register  of  baptisms  etc.  is  of  interest. 


*'A  famous  account  of  the  adventures  of  Bonnie  Prince 
Charlie  before  and  after  Culloden. 

"Walker,  p.  16;  Ramsay  (p.  522)  says  that  it  was  Mr. 
Thomas  Kuddiman  who  sent  Skinner  to  Shetland. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  231 

"1740,  June  8th  (1st  Sunday  after  Trinity). 
Mr.  John  Skinner  came  to  my  Room  after  Ves- 
pers, and,  at  his  own  Desire,  received  Baptism 
from  me,  after  that  he  had  declared,  that  he  was 
not  satisfied  with  the  springling  of  a  Layman,  a 
Presbyterian  Teacher,  he  had  received  in  his  in- 
fancy, and  had  adduced  several  weighty  arguments 
for  this  his  conduct. ^^  The  young  pedagogue's 
tutorial  experiences  in  Shetland  were,  as  has  been 
indicated,  of  a  discouraging  character,'"  and  they 
were  brought  to  a  close  by  the  death  of  his  pupil's 
father.  Before  that  event  took  place,  however, 
Skinner  had  contracted  an  acquaintance  and 
formed  a  life-union  which  must  have  brought 
abundant  compensations  for  the  irksome  nature  of 
his  work.  At  this  time  the  only  Episcopal  clergy- 
man in  the  Shetland  Isles  was  the  Eev.  John  Hun- 
ter, a  devoted  and  hard-working  pastor,  who  strove 
to  keep  together  as  best  he  could  his  widely  scat- 
tered flock.  The  young  convert  naturally  became 
intimate  with  Mr.  Hunter  and  his  family,  and  on 
the  12th  I^ov.  1741  an  attachment  with  the  eldest 
daughter,  Grissel,  was  consummated  by  the  mar- 
riage of  the  young  pair.  If  such  a  union  did  not 
evince  much  foresight,  it  was  certainly  justified  by 
its  success.  Although  neither  wealth  nor  worldly 
prosperity  attended  them.   Skinner  and  his  wife 

"Craven.     Bishop  R.  Forbes*  Journals,  p.  11. 
^®  He  would  seem  to  have  acted  as  chaplain  in  Mr.  Sin- 
clair's family  as  well.     Walker  p.  23. 


232  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

enjoyed  for  many  years  true  happiness  and  long- 
continued  blessings.  In  The  Old  Mans  Song  the 
poet  sings  toward  the  close  of  his  life  with  much 
tenderness,  the  beauty  of  the  joys  of  his  married 
life. 

"0!  why  should  old  age  so  much  wound  us? 
There  is  nothing  in  it  all  to  confound  us; 

For  how  happy  now  am  I 

With  my  auld  wife  sitting  by 
And  our  bairns  and  our  oys  '®  all  around  us. 
"We  began  in  the  warld  wi'  naething, 
And  we've  jogg'd  on  and  toil'd  for  the  ae  thing, 

We  made  use  of  what  we  had, 

And  our  thankful  hearts  were  glad; 
When  we  got  the  bit  meat  and  the  claithing." 

When  it  again  became  necessary  for  Skinner  to 
look  about  for  a  livelihood,  his  thoughts  naturally 
turned  to  his  native  county.  In  Aberdeenshire 
there  was  a  demand  for  candidates  for  Holy  Or- 
ders, towards  which  he  may  be  said  to  have  already 
taken  a  step,  by  acting  as  ^^chaplain"  at  Scalloway. 
Accordingly  he  left  his  wife  in  her  father's  care, 
and  betook  himself  to  the  small  country  town  of 
Old  Meldrum,  some  twenty  miles  north  of  Aber- 
deen. There,  in  accordance  with  the  stern  traditions 
of  the  northern  student,  he  started  to  prepare  for 
Orders  with  a  firlot  of  meal  for  his  food,  and  a  bar- 
rowful  of  peats  which  he  had  wheeled  home  him- 
self for  fuel.    His  frugal  manner  of  living,''  no  less 


'Grandchildren.  "Walker,  p.  26. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  233 

than  his  brilliant  talents,"  recommended  him  to  the 
Bishop,  who  ordained  him  to  the  diaconate  at 
Peterhead  on  the  22nd  Aug.  1742.  In  l^ovember 
of  that  year  Skinner  was  appointed  to  his  life- 
charge  of  Longside,  where  for  65  years  he  laboured 
faithfully  and  with  success  in  the  service  of  the 
Church  of  his  adoption. 

Half  a  century  had  now  elapsed  since  the  dis- 
establishment of  the  Church  to  whose  ministry 
Skinner  was  now  admitted,  and  during  that  per- 
iod changes  of  great  importance  had  taken  place 
in  her  character.  Besides  the  inevitable  shrink- 
age in  the  numbers  both  of  her  clergy  and  her 
people,  developments  had  taken  place  in  the  sphere 
of  her  Church  Government,  and  in  her  ceremonial 
and  liturgical  equipment  which  must  now  be  briefly 
touched  upon.  In  the  first  place,  her  Bishops 
had  gradually  become  diocesan  rulers  once  more. 
The  foolish  and  ultra-Erastian  system  of  non- 
ruling  Bishops  had  broken  down  after  the  death 
of  Bishop  Kose  of  Edinburgh,  the  last  of  the  pre- 
revolution  prelates.  Episcopacy  in  Scotland  has 
passed  through  many  strange  phases,  and  not  the 


^2  Mr.  R.  Kilgour,  afterwards  a  Bishop,  being  suspicious 
of  new  converts,  entreated  Bishop  Dunbar,  who  was  to  or- 
dain young  Skinner,  to  examine  him  very  strictly.  The 
Bishop  who  was  a  primitive,  venerable  man,  answered 
mildly,  "Robin,  that  young  man  is  very  well  qualified.  Be- 
lieve me,  he  is  fit  to  examine  you  and  me,  being  learned 
and  able  beyond  his  years."  Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  etc., 
I,  522. 


234  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

least  strange  was  that  in  which  the  aged  Eose  held 
in  his  hands  the  whole  government  of  the  Church, 
while  six  other  Bishops,  consecrated  merely  to 
preserve  the  Episcopal  succession,  looked  on  idly 
without  power  or  jurisdiction/'  When  Eose  died 
in  1720  the  non-ruling  Bishops  formed  themselves 
into  an  Episcopal  College,  exercising  corporate 
jurisdiction  over  the  whole  church,  with  Fullarton 
as  Primus  inter  pares.  Three  of  these  Bishops 
were  also  elected  by  the  clergy  of  Edinburgh,  An- 
gus, and  Aberdeen,  to  perform  Episcopal  acts 
within  those  districts.  In  1722  and  later  years, 
mainly  on  the  nomination  of  the  Chevalier  through 
his  trustees,  other  college  Bishops  were  consecrated 
and  more  of  their  number  were  chosen  as  diocesan 
Bishops.  This  strange  distinction  of  the  rulers  of 
the  Church  into  diocesan  and  college  Bishops  lasted 
for  about  twenty  years,'*  and  its  disappearance 
was  one  of  the  results  of  the  ritual  controversy 
which  during  that  period  distracted  and  divided 
the  unfortunate  Church. 

The  usages,  as  the  ceremonial  customs  alluded 
to  were  termed,  originated  among  the  English  non- 
jurors as  a  primitive  and  eastern  revival,  and 
were  heartily  adopted  in  certain  parts  of  Scot- 
land," in  reaction  from  the  bare  worship  which 


^^Grub,  III,  382. 

^*  Bishop   Ochterlonie,  the   last   College  Bishop,  died  in 
1742. 

^^  Especially  in  the  diocese  of  Aberdeen. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  235 

had  characterized  the  Church  since  the  Kestora- 
tion.  The  main  usages  were  (1)  the  express  in- 
vocation of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  the  consecration  of 
the  elements,  (2)  the  prayer  of  oblation,  (3)  the 
commemoration  of  the  faithful  departed,  and  (4) 
the  mixed  chalice.  Other  less  important  usages 
were  immersion  in  baptism,  and  the  chrism  in 
confirmation  and  in  the  anointing  of  the  sick. 
While  the  college  Bishops  resolutely  opposed  the 
innovations,  the  diocesan  Bishops  were  in  favour 
of  them,  and  a  long  and  sad  controversy  ensued. 
In  the  end  victory  lay  with  the  ^^usagers,"  and  the 
non-ruling  Bishops  ceased  to  exist 

Closely  bound  up  with  the  controversy  over 
the  usages  is  the  development  of  the  great  liturgi- 
cal feature  of  the  Church,  the  Scottish  Commun- 
ion office.  This  form  of  service  has  passed 
through  several  stages,  but  its  groundwork  is  the 
communion  office  of  the  1637  Scottish  Prayer 
Book,  and,  through  the  influence  of  an  English 
non-juring  office  of  1718,  the  first  Prayer  Book  of 
Edward  VI.  (1549).  The  custom  had  arisen  of 
celebrating  according  to  the  1637  Prayer  Book, 
with  omissions  and  transpositions,  and  in  1724 
this  office  was  published  by  Bishop  Gadderar  of 
Aberdeen,  the  first  of  the  ^Vee  bookies,"  as  the 
copies  of  the  Scottish  Communion  office  were 
called.  In  1735  two  booksellers  published,  as  a 
private  venture,  a  "wee  bookie"  embodying  the 
changes  which  took  place  in  actual  use,  and  which 


236  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

up  to  that  date  the  celebrant  had  marked  in  the 
margin  by  means  of  pen  and  ink.  By  the  date 
of  Skinner's  ordination,  this  office  was  almost  uni- 
versally used  outside  the  diocese  of  Edinburgh/' 
and  to  a  certain  extent  in  that  district  as  well. 

Scarcely  had  Skinner  become  well  accustomed 
to  the  duties  of  his  charge,  when  the  country  was 
convulsed  with  the  Jacobite  rising  of  1745.  That 
stirring  event  formed  one  of  the  most  romantic 
episodes  of  Scottish  history,  but  when  the  hopes  of 
the  Stuarts  were  shattered  on  the  mournful  field 
of  Culloden,  the  Church  which  had  furnished  so 
many  of  the  supporters  of  Prince  Charlie  entered 
upon  her  severest  and  darkest  trial.  Bands  of 
armed  troops  from  Cumberland's  army  scoured  the 
country  and  burned  the  chapels  or  compelled  the 
congregations  to  pay  workmen  to  pull  them  down. 
Skinner  is  said  to  have  donned  the  garb  of  a 

'"The  subsequent  stages  of  development  were  as  fol- 
lows. In  1743  the  booksellers'  "wee  bookie"  was  repub- 
lished, and  in  1744  Bishop  Rattray  published  The  Ancient 
Liturgy  of  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  which,  though  used 
by  very  few,  was  the  source  of  some  of  the  most  character- 
istic features  of  our  present  Scottish  liturgy.  In  1755 
Bishop  Falconer  published  a  communion  office  embodying 
many  of  the  points  in  Rattray's  book,  and  in  1764  he  and 
Bishop  Robert  Forbes  issued  what  until  the  year  1912  was 
generally  regarded  as  the  authorized  edition  of  the  Scot- 
tish liturgy.  In  the  latter  year  the  Scottish  Bishops  issued 
an  authoritative  edition,  which,  however,  does  not  super- 
sede the  older  forms  which  are  in  use.  See  Dowden's 
Annotated  Scottish  Communion  Office. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  237 

miller  in  order  to  evade  the  soldiers,"  but  one 
night  ^^  on  returning  home  he  found  a  party  of 
Campbells  ransacking  and  pillaging  his  humble 
abode.  Even  the  apartment  in  which  Mrs.  Skin- 
ner lay  in  a  delicate  state  of  health  was  not  res- 
pected, and  the  invaders  carried  away  everything 
they  could  in  the  way  of  plunder.  Next  day  the 
chapel  was  burnt,  to  the  great  delight  of  a  local  lady 
of  rank  who  was  credited  with  having  brought  the 
troops  to  Longside.  This  worthy  person  rode 
round  the  blazing  chapel  urging  the  destroyers  to 
make  their  work  complete,  by  ^^haudin'  in  the 
Prayerbooks",  and  later  on  ascended  a  hill  where 
she  could  also  enjoy  the  sight  of  the  flames  of  the 
chapel  of  Old  Deer,  clapping  her  hands  and  ex- 
claiming in  words  borrowed  from  Dickson,  one  of 
the  Covenanting  ministers  of  the  former  age,  "The 
wark  o'  Guid  gangs  bonnily  on !"  **  Skinner  was, 
as  we  shall  see,  no  Jacobite,  but  he  may  have  in- 
curred the  enmity  of  his  powerful  neighbour  in 
some  unrecorded  manner.  Certainly  the  two 
stinging  poetical  lampoons  which  he  wrote  against 
her  after  the  burning  of  his  chapel,  must  have 
made  her  the  laughing-stock  of  the  whole  country- 
side, but  could  only  have  kindled  in  her  a  fresh 
desire  to  work  harm  to  their  clever  but  injudicious 
author. 

The   period   of   military   oppression   was   bad 

^^  Walker,  p.  29.        '^July  29,  1746.       «» Walker,  p.  32. 


238  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

enough  for  the  suffering  Church,  but  far  worse 
was  now  to  follow.  Although  the  Episcopal  clergy 
had  been  much  less  openly  identified  with  the  ris- 
ing of  '45  than  their  predecessors  were  with  that 
of  '15,  the  Hanoverian  government  now  decided 
to  put  them  under  more  stringent  legal  disabilities. 
In  1746  it  was  enacted  that  every  Episcopal  clergy- 
man in  Scotland  should  take  the  oath  of  abjuration 
and  of  allegiance  to  King  George,  register  his 
letters  of  orders  by  the  1st  of  September,  and  pray 
for  the  Hanoverian  king  by  name.  Those  who 
failed  to  do  so  were  prohibited  from  ministering 
to  five  or  more  persons  except  when  the  service  was 
held  in  a  house  where  a  family  resided,  in  which 
case  the  household  was  allowed  to  attend  as  well. 
The  penalties  for  the  clergy  were  imprisonment  for 
six  months  for  a  first  offence,  and  after  that,  trans- 
portation to  the  plantations  in  America  for  life. 
The  laity  also  incurred  penalties  and  disabilities 
for  attending  the  proscribed  services,  including  a 
fine  of  five  pounds  for  the  first  offence,  and  impris- 
onment for  two  years  in  cases  of  further  disobedi- 
ence. 

The  result  was  that  on  the  1st  of  September 
1746  the  public  worship  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
practically  ceased.  The  clergy  did  their  best  to 
minister  privately  to  their  fiocks  under  the  great 
disabilities  imposed  upon  them,  and  some  were 
imprisoned  for  ministering  to  more  than  the  pre- 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  239 

scribed  number/"  Five  ministers,  however,  availed 
themselves  of  the  provisions  of  the  act,  and 
seem  to  have  continued  their  services  without 
molestation.  Amongst  them  was  Skinner  of  Lin- 
shart,  who,  although  loyal  to  his  Church,  shared 
with  many  others"  an  inability  to  see  the  necessary 
connection  between  Jacobitism  and  Church  prin- 
ciples. The  prevailing  opinion,  however,  in  his 
Communion  was  that  such  compliance  was  a  sin, 
and  Skinner  with  his  neighbour  of  Old  Deer  had 
to  bow  to  it.  They  are  said  to  have  "repented''  and 
to  have  been  "absolved  by  their  Bishop,  Mr.  Ge- 
rard." "  Skinner's  repentance  does  not,  however, 
seem  to  have  prevented  him  from  praying  for  King 
George,*'  until  the  penal  act  of  1748  made  such 
compliance  useless. 

By  dint  of  the  toleration  thus  secured,  and  with 
the  help  of  a  little  tract  entitled  "A  preservative 
against  Presbytery"  which  he  wrote  in  1746,  the 
zealous  young  pastor  of  twenty-five  seems  to  have 
succeeded  in  keeping  his  large  flock  together. 
As  late  as  1792  the  Longside  chapel  was  able  to 
contain  over  1000  of  a  congregation,"  and  there 
were  usually  800  communicants  at  Easter." 
Only  by  the  most  extraordinary  exertions  on  the 

*«Grub,  IV,  37. 

'*^  "He  assured  me  that  his  opinions  were  likewise  held 
by  some  of  the  most  venerable  and  respectable  clergymen 
of  his  Church."     Scotland  and  Scotsmen,  p.  523. 

*^  Walker,  p.  40.  « Ihid.,  p.  44. 

"  Scotland,  etc.,  p.  537.  "  Ibid,,  p.  526. 


240  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

part  of  its  pastor  could  such  a  congregation  have 
been  preserved  during  the  trying  period  which 
novp-  followed.  In  the  year  1748  a  new  penal  act 
was  passed  of  a  far  more  stringent  character  than 
that  of  1746.  It  was  now  decreed  that  no 
Episcopal  clergyman  in  Scottish  orders  had  any 
claim  for  toleration  as  under  the  former  law,  and 
that  he  might  only  officiate  in  his  own  house, 
with  four  fellow  worshippers  besides  his  own  fam- 
ily. In  other  words,  clergy  whose  orders  were 
neither  English  nor  Irish  were  denied  any  rights 
of  conducting  worship  beyond  those  possessed  by 
every  householder  in  the  land. 

Under  this  staggering  blow  the  clergy  went 
bravely  on  trying  to  minister  to  their  congrega- 
tions. They  did  their  best  to  keep  within  the  let- 
ter of  the  law,  but  its  spirit  they  could  not  but 
violate,  if  the  Church  was  to  exist  any  longer. 
Sometimes  they  met  their  people  in  a  smithy  or  a 
barn  or  a  workshop,  sometimes  in  the  open  air  in 
solitary  glens  and  woods  and  .  remote  mountain 
sides.  The  most  common  device  was  to  accom- 
modate the  congregation  in  different  apartments 
of  the  priest's  house,  while  he  conducted  the  ser- 
vice at  some  point  where  all  could  hear  him.**"  This 
was  the  expedient  adopted  at  Linshart,  where 
Skinner's  house  still  stands,  in  the  form  of  a  half- 
square.  The  congregation  took  up  their  position 
partly  outside,  in  snowy  or  wet  weather  or  dry,  and 
"See  Appendix  E,  Seat  Rents  under  the  penal  laws. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  241 

partly  inside  the  house,  while  the  pastor  read  the 
service  and  preached  at  a  window  in  the  angle 
formed  by  the  two  wings.  The  discomfort  and 
inconvenience  of  such  a  service  may  well  be  im- 
agined. On  one  famous  occasion  a  frightened 
hen  scattered  the  pages  of  Skinner's  sermon  to  the 
winds,  and  brought  the  discourse  to  an  untimely 
end.  "Never  mind  them/'  said  the  witty  and  un- 
daunted cleric,  "a  fool  (fowl)  shall  never  shut  my 
mouth  again,"  and  from  that  day  forward  he 
preached  without  the  assistance  of  a  manuscript. 

It  was  inevitable  that  some  of  the  clergy  should 
be  caught  within  the  meshes  of  the  law.  In  1748 
three  non-juring  pastors  were  shut  up  in  Stone- 
haven Jail,*^  and  in  1755  the  Eev.  John  Connocher 
was  sentenced  to  perpetual  banishment  from  Scot- 
land, and  forbidden  to  return  under  pain  of 
death."  Skinner's  ministrations  were  abruptly  in- 
terrupted by  his  arrest  in  May  1753,  on  a  charge 
of  ministering  to  more  than  the  statutory  number. 
Doubtless  his  success  in  keeping  so  large  a  con- 
gregation intact  had  directed  attention  to  his  meth- 
ods, but  in  all  probability  he  had  also  to  thank  his 
own  propensity  to  poetical  satire  for  this  misfor- 
tune.    He  had  written  two  stinging  lampoons  in 

*'The  window  is  still  visible  through  which  they  un- 
dauntedly baptized  the  infants  carried  to  the  back  of  the 
prison  by  fisherwomen  in  their  creels.  One  of  their  num- 
ber used  to  play  lively  Jacobite  airs  on  the  pipes  or  fiddle, 
to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  his  visitors  outside. 

"  Grub,  IV,  42. 


242  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

1747  upon  the  lady  who  caused  the  burning  of  his 
church,  and  in  1751  he  produced  an  ^^epitaph"  for 
her.  'Not  content  with  this  he  wrote,  about  1750, 
a  poetical  address,  couched  in  very  strong  terms,  to 
no  less  a  person  than  the  Public  Prosecutor  of  the 
county  of  Aberdeen,  Mr.  David  Morice,  whose  zeal 
in  carrying  out  the  penal  laws  displeased  him. 
One  can  therefore  hardly  wonder  that  Skinner 
himself  came  under  the  unfriendly  notice  of  the 
authorities. 

Admitting  his  offence,  the  poet  was  sentenced 
to  six  months'  imprisonment  in  the  jail  of  Old 
Aberdeen.  His  lot  however  cannot  be  described  as 
unhappy."  He  was  visited  and  cheered  by  many  of 
the  sympathetic  inhabitants  of  Aberdeen,  and  his 
imprisonment  was  shared  by  his  son  John,  the 
future  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  then  a  lad  of  eight 
years  of  age.  The  health  of  the  boy  was  so  se- 
riously threatened  by  the  shock  of  his  father's  im- 
prisonment, that  he  was  allowed  to  become  a  volun- 
tary inmate  of  Skinner's  cell,  where  his  presence 
must  have  helped  to  cheer  the  dull  hours  of  cap- 
tivity. Besides,  the  opportunity  of  quiet  study  was 
one  which  the  incarcerated  lover  of  books  turned 
to  good  account.  He  had  for  years  been  studying 
Hebrew  according  to  his  opportunities,  but  now  he 
laid  the  foundation  of  that  critical  knowledge  of 
the  Old  Testament  for  which  he  was  distinguished 


*®"I   have  heard  him   say  that  he   was  never   happier 
than  during  his  imprisonment."     Scotland,  etc.,  I,  525. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  243 

till  the  end  of  his  life.  When  his  term  of  impris- 
onment expired,  Kamsay  of  Ochtertyre  informs 
us/"*  he  returned  home  in  triumph,  being  regarded 
as  a  confessor  for  Episcopacy. 

It  was  not  until  the  accession  of  George  III.  in 
1760  that  any  alleviation  of  the  lot  of  the  suffering 
Church  took  place.  The  new  king  was  averse  to 
a  rigorous  enforcement  of  the  penal  laws,  and 
gradually  the  Episcopal  congregations  began  to 
build  rough  and  unpretentious  buildings  to  shelter 
them  from  the  weather  during  worship.  Such  a 
rude  meeting  house  was  erected  near  Skinner's 
dwelling  about  this  time,  and  in  1799  this  was  re- 
placed by  a  still  rude  but  more  Churchlike  struc- 
ture. Eamsay's  description  of  what  he  saw  at 
Linshart  in  1792  may  here  be  referred  to."  The 
chapel  was  primitive  and  unadorned,  having  the 
appearance  of  a  vast  bam  shaped  like  a  cross.  The 
building  was  thatched,  and  although  too  low  in  the 
roof  for  lofts  or  galleries,  it  could  contain  over 
1000  worshippers.  The  altar  was  very  plain, 
^^being  a  square  seat  (sic)  immediately  below  a 
very  humble  pulpit." 

Skinner's  life  for  the  next  twenty  years  may 
be  passed  over  lightly.  It  was  occupied  for  the 
most  part  with  study  and  literary  work,  in  addition 
to  the  engrossing  duties  of  a  country  charge.  For 
nearly  seven  years  from  1758  he  engaged  in  an  un- 

•^^  Ibid.  "  Scotland,  etc.,  I,  537. 


244  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

successful  attempt  at  farming,  at  the  end  of  which 
he  was  glad,  in  his  own  words,  to 

"Sell  corn  and  cattle  off;  pay  every  man; 
Get  free  of  debts  and  duns  as  fast's  I  can; 
Give  up  the  farm  with  all  its  wants,  and  then, 
Why,  take  me  to  the  book  and  pen." 

If  the  poet  student  made  a  poor  farmer,  it  was 
about  this  period  that  he  produced  his  finest  songs, 
Tullochgorum — the  best  song,  according  to  Burns, 
that  Scotland  ever  saw — and  the  famous  Ewie 
wi'  the  Crookit  Horn,  Both  subjects  were  sug- 
gested to  the  poet  by  others.  The  latter  is  a  mas- 
terpiece of  pathos  and  subtle  humour,  combined 
with  sympathy  for  the  lower  creation,  while  Tul- 
lochgorum is  a  grand  and  sunny  outburst  in  praise 
of  brotherhood  and  good  feeling,  in  words  that  are 
perfectly  wedded  to  one  of  Scotland's  most  witch- 
ing reels. 

"Come,  gie's  a  sang  Montgomery"  cry'd, 
And  lay  your  disputes  all  aside. 
What  signifies't  for  folks  to  chide 
For  what  was  done  before  them; 
Let  Whig  and  Tory  all  agree. 
Whig  and  Tory,  Wliig  and  Tory, 


"  Mrs.  Montgomery  was  the  hostess  of  a  clerical  gath- 
ering at  Ellon,  where  an  acrimonious  discussion  had  taken 
place.  In  order  to  change  the  conversation  she  suggested 
to  Skinner  that  he  should  write  words  to  the  air  of  Tul- 
lochgorum, with  the  result  that  the  famous  song  was  pro- 
duced. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  246 

Whig  and  Tory  all  agree, 

To  drop  their  Whig-meg-morum, 
Let  Whig  and  Tory  all  agree, 
To  spend  the  night  wi'  mirth  and  glee, 
And  cheerfu'  sing  alang  wi'  me 

The  reel  o'  Tullochgorum." 

Skinner  had  an  extraordinary  facility  in  toss- 
ing off  at  a  moment's  notice  a  Scots  song  or  a  Latin 
epigram,  and  never  seems  to  have  taken  his 
poetical  talents  seriously.  The  labour  of  revision 
was  irksome  to  him,  and  he  never  attempted  any- 
thing worthy  of  his  genius.  Most  of  his  themes 
were  suggested  to  him  by  others,  or  dictated  by 
the  fancy  of  the  moment.  Doubtless  he  felt  that 
any  fame  which  might  be  his  in  after  days  would 
result  from  his  learned  labours  in  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  in  connection  with  a  system  of  inter- 
pretation which  is  now  as  extinct  as  the  dodo.  This 
was  Hutchinsonianism,  a  method  of  study  which 
now  seems  wild  and  fanciful,  but  which  appealed  to 
many  minds  in  the  days  when  there  was  no  science 
of  philology,  when  Sanskrit  was  hardly  known, 
and  when  it  was  universally  believed  that  Hebrew 
was  the  earliest  of  all  languages.  Its  aim  was  to 
subvert  Newton's  theory  of  the  universe,  and  the 
Unitarianism  which  was  then  prevalent,  and  it  pro- 
ceeded by  discarding  the  Hebrew  vowel  points,  and 
then  attaching  speculative  meanings  to  what  was 
left.  Skinner's  poetical  nature  was  strongly  at- 
tracted to  Hutchinson's  theories  in  his  prison  days, 


246  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

and  he  remained  devoted  to  them  until  the  end  of 
his  life,  the  subject  being  one  upon  which  he  could 
least  bear  contradiction  or  raillery/'*  During  his 
lifetime  he  published  A  dissertation  on  Jacob's 
prophecy.  Gen.  xlix.  10  (1757),  and  after  his  death 
appeared  a  treatise  on  the  Shekinah,  and  An  expo- 
sition of  the  Song  of  Solomon.  The  dissertation 
brought  a  commendation  from  Dr.  Sherlock, 
Bishop  of  London,  and  a  handsome  present  of 
Calasio's  Hebrew  Concordance  in  four  folio  vol- 
umes. 

Skinner's  library  was  contained  in  "a  closet 
of  about  five  feet  square,"  and  he  makes  the  par- 
donable boast  to  his  grandson  that  ^^there  are  few 
who  have  published  so  much  (whether  valuable  or 
not  is  out  of  the  question)  with  so  few  books  in 
their  possession." "  He  was  blessed,  however, 
with  a  tenacious  memory,  and  like  most  of  the 
clergy  of  his  time  he  kept  commonplace  books,  in 
which  he  wrote  down  whatever  he  thought  worthy 
of  notice  in  the  books  of  others  to  which  he  had 
access.  The  light  in  his  study  window  served  as 
a  landmark  to  passing  wayfarers,  and  the  good 
man  would  never  retire  to  rest  so  long  as  there 
was  a  chance  of  any  human  being  needing  the  as- 
sistance of  its  guiding  rays. 

The  home  of  Linshart  was  a  famed  centre  of 
hospitality.     All  who  came  were  sure  of  a  wel- 

"  Scotland,  etc.,  I,  531.  "  Walker,  p.  95. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  247 

come  and  a  place.  If  the  fare  was  plain  and 
homely,  and  the  style  of  living  frugal,  the  host  was 
the  life  and  soul  of  the  company.  He  was  an  ad- 
mirable conversationalist,  and  stories  of  his  wit  and 
humour  yet  abound  in  the  district.  As  his  family 
grew  up,  he  would  compose  songs  for  them  to  sing 
to  old  Scottish  tunes,  and  by  word  and  example  he 
promoted  that  happy  social  intercourse  of  which 
he  sings  in  Tullochgorum. 

"Blythe  and  cheerie  we'll  be  a* 
And  make  a  happy  quorum." 

Of  his  family  some  did  well  in  life,  and  others 
less  well.  His  second  son  John,  the  companion  of 
his  imprisonment,  was  his  favourite,  and  it  is  easy 
to  imagine  with  what  joy  and  pride  he  saw  that 
son  raised  to  the  Episcopate  in  1782,  as  Bishop  of 
Aberdeen,  after  some  years  of  valuable  service  as  a 
priest  at  Ellon  and  Aberdeen. 

It  is  related ''  that  before  the  younger  Skinner 
was  appointed  Bishop,  some  of  the  older  clergy 
waited  upon  his  father  and  urged  him  to  allow  him- 
self to  be  nominated  for  the  office.  He  excused 
himself,  according  to  the  story,  in  this  way :  "You 
wish  me  to  be  Bishop,  do  you  ?  Well  then,  elect 
John.  I  shall  then  be  Bishop  all  the  same." 
Whether  the  words  are  authentic  or  not,  they  are 
not  far  wide   of  the  mark   as   an  expression  of 

"Walker,  p.  126. 


248  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Skinner's  influence  upon  general  Church  affairs 
in  Scotland  from  this  time  forward.  Able,  ener- 
getic, and  sensible  as  the  Bishop  was,  his  father's 
gifts  were  much  greater,  and  it  was  to  the  younger 
man's  credit  and  advantage  that  he  relied  upon 
TuUochgorum's  learning  and  advice  so  much  as 
he  did.  "The  fact,"  says  the  grandson  of  the  elder 
Skinner,""  "is  well  known  in  Scotland,  and  his  son, 
the  Bishop,  never  attempted  to  conceal  it,  that  in 
all  his  measures  for  the  Church's  relief  and  pros- 
perity, he  was,  under  God,  more  indebted  to  the 
head,  the  heart,  and  the  hand  of  his  own  father .  . 
.  . .  .than  to  any  other  fellow-labourer." 

Hardly  had  the  new  Bishop  entered  upon  his 
duties  when  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance 
emerged.  An  English  dignitary  who  was  dwell- 
ing at  St.  Andrews,  Dr.  Berkeley,  sub-dean  of 
Canterbury,  and  son  of  the  famous  Bishop  of 
Cloyne,  wrote  to  him"  urging  the  Scottish  Bishops 
to  consider  a  project  for  sending  out  an  "itinerant" 
Bishop  to  America,  now  that  the  end  of  the  war 
of  Independence  was  in  sight.  This  proposal  the 
Scottish  Bishops  wisely  rejected,  but,  as  is  well 
known,  a  far  happier  result  followed,  when  on 
Sunday,  the  14th  of  November,  1784,  Dr.  Sam- 
uel Seabury  was  consecrated  as  first  Bishop  of 
Connecticut  and  of  the  American  Church,  by  three 


'^'^  Annals  of  Scottish  Episcopacy,  pp.  522-3. 

'^^  9th  Oct.  1782.    Scottish  Church  Review,  p.  36. 


SAMUEL  SEABURY,  D.D. 
First  Bishop  of  Connecticut 


SCOTTISH  GHUBCH  HISTORY  249 

Scottish  Bishops,  Kilgour,  Petrie,  and  Skinner, 
in  an  upper  room  in  Longacre,  Aberdeen. 

Of  this  important  event  the  main  management 
fell  upon  the  shoulders  of  Bishop  Skinner,  and  but 
for  his  firmness  and  energy  the  plan  would  prob- 
ably have  miscarried.  He  in  his  turn  was  able 
to  rely  upon  the  counsel  and  support  of  his  father, 
as  Dean  Skinner  of  Forfar,  his  own  son,  testifies."* 
"The  proposal  to  consecrate  a  Bishop  for  Connecti- 
cut was  no  sooner  proposed  to  Bishop  Skinner,  and 
communicated  to  his  father,  than  the  good  man 
became  its  zealous  advocate  and  supporter.  The 
Bishops,  Kilgour  and  Petrie  (men  of  the  greatest 
private  worth,  but  alike  timid  in  disposition,  as  at 
that  time  they  had  become  infirm  in  body)  he 
stimulated  to  compliance  by  arguments  which 
eventually  proved  irresistible,  while  his  own  son, 
who  would  modestly  have  declined  the  active  part 
which  he  was  constrained  to  take,  he  encouraged 
to  the  work  with  a  zeal  equally  ardent,  but  more  ac- 
cording to  knowledge,  than  the  zeal  exhibited  by 
the  patrons  of  modern  Christian  missions." 

The  Scottish  Church  is  proud  of  its  connec- 
tion with  the  great  Church  of  America,  and  well  it 
may  be.  For  the  consecration  of  the  first  American 
Bishop  was  more  than  the  forging  of  a  peculiarly 
intimate  link  between  the  two  Churches. 
It  proved  to  be  the  turning  point  in  the  depressed 

^^  Annals f  ut  supra. 


260  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

fortunes  of  the  Church  in  Scotland.  It  brought 
a  breath  of  new  life  and  new  hope  into  the  minds 
of  its  members,  and  widened  a  horizon  which  had 
been  narrowing  for  many  years.  And  it  brought 
into  public  prominence  the  almost  forgotten  fact 
of  the  Church's  existence,  and  raised  up  in  Eng- 
land friends  whose  zeal  was  afterwards  enlisted 
in  the  repeal  of  the  penal  laws. 

The  condition  of  the  Church  at  the  time  of 
Seabury's  consecration  was  indeed  a  low  one. 
Three  of  the  four  Bishops"*  who  presided  over  it 
lived  within  the  diocese  of  Aberdeen,  so  greatly 
had  the  area  shrunk  where  a  parochial  charge  could 
be  found  with  a  moderate  stipend  for  a  Bishop's 
support.  Kilgour,  the  Primus,  dwelt  at  Peter- 
head; Skinner  his  coadjutor  had  charge  of  the 
Longacre  congregation  in  Aberdeen;  while  Petrie, 
the  Bishop  of  Moray  and  Boss,  ministered  to  the 
congregation  of  Folia  Eule,  visiting  his  Northern 
diocese  at  intervals  of  two  or  three  years,  riding 
on  "a  little  Highland  pony,"  and  wearing  the 
^'shepherd's  grey  plaid"  which  was  often  his  only 
canonical  robe.*^  Under  these  four  prelates  there 
were  about  forty  clergy,  while  the  laity  numbered 
probably  less  than  a  twentieth  of  the  population 
of  the  country." 


~A  fifth,  Falconer  of  Edinburgh,  died  just  before  Sea- 
bury's consecration. 

*^  Scottish  Church  Review,  Vol.  I,  p.  586. 
"Grub,  IV,  91. 


BISHOP  SEABURY'S  MITRE 

Preserved  at  Trinity  College,  Hartford 

Front  and  side  views 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  251 

The  Seabury  correspondence  enables  one  to 
frame  a  clear  enough  idea  of  the  sentiments  per- 
vading the  Church  at  this  time.  Persecution  had 
rendered  its  leaders  cautious  and  timid,  although 
the  penal  laws  were  no  longer  rigorously  enforced. 
Skinner's  consecration  was  carried  out  so  quietly 
that  when  Berkeley  first  wrote  to  him  he  was  un- 
aware of  the  fact  that  he  was  addressing  a  Bishop.^^ 
And  nothing  could  illustrate  the  Church's  obscur- 
ity and  isolation  better  than  Skinner's  satisfaction 
at  the  thought  that  an  English  Church  dignitary, 
in  the  person  of  Berkeley,  had  shewed  it  "the  least 
mark  of  respect  or  sympathy."  "*  Berkeley's  de- 
scription of  the  Scottish  Church  as  "a  plant  in  a 
dry  ground,"  **  only  echoes  the  depressed  references 
of  its  own  prelates  then  and  for  long  afterwards 
to  its  apparently  sinking  state.  The  older  genera- 
tion was  still  opposed  to  the  establishment  in  Eng- 
land, and  in  sympathy  with  the  non-jurors  there. 
Indeed  the  objection  which  Bishop  Rose  of  Dun- 
keld  urged  against  Seabury  was  "his  having  got 
his  orders  from  the  scismatical  Church  of  Eng- 
land," *'  and  Skinner  was  doubtless  much  surprised 
to  learn,  in  the  course  of  the  Seabury  negotiations, 
that  his  three  colleagues  were  at  the  time  consider- 
ing an  application  to  consecrate,  and  send  a  Bishop 
to  the  non-juring  remnant  in  England.     For  this 


«/8r.  C.  R.,  p.  38.  ««pp.  36  and  39.  "p.  36. 

®^p.  589.     Bishop  Falconer  "would  take  no  concern  in 
that  proposal,"  p.  588. 


252  BIOGRAPHICAL  8TUDIE8  IN 

step  precedents  could  be  urged/*  and  the  action 
of  English  Bishops  in  ordaining  men  to  take  charge 
of  "qualified"  congregations  in  Scotland  was  keenly 
resented  by  the  Scottish  Bishops,  but  happily,  no 
doubt  through  Skinner's  firmness,  the  elder  pre- 
lates did  not  proceed  in  the  matter. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  after  more  than  a 
year's  ineffective  waiting  upon  the  English 
Bishops,  Seabury  turned  to  Scotland  for  aid,  his 
request  for  consecration  was  freely  granted.  A 
concordat  between  the  Scottish  Church  and  that 
of  Connecticut,  drawn  up  by  Bishops  Skinner  and 
Petrie,  was  agreed  to,  the  main  result  of  which  was 
the  framing  of  the  American  Communion  office 
upon  the  model  of  the  liturgy  of  the  Scottish 
Church.  At  the  historic  scene  in  the  Longacre 
upper  room  the  youthful  Alexander  Jolly, 
afterwards  well  known  as  the  saintly  bishop  of 
Moray,  was  present,  to  his  great  joy;  and  to  him 
Skinner,  whom  Sunday  duties  had  prevented  from 
attending,  wrote  of  his  happiness  in  having  "a  son 
assisting  in  sending  a  Bishop  to  that  very  country 
to  which  the  execution  of  my  office  has  for  these 
thirty  years  past  exposed  me  to  the  risk  of  being 


"•In  1713,  and  again  in  1716,  Bishops  Campbell  and 
Gadderar  had  assisted  Bishop  Hickes  to  consecrate  non- 
juring  Bishops  in  London,  and  in  1725  Bishop  Doughty 
was  consecrated  in  Edinburgh  by  four  Scottish  Bishops. 
8.  C,  R.,  p.  592. 


THE    LONGACRE,    ABERDEEN,    1884 
rFrom  the  Seabury  Centenary  Report] 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  253 

banished  as  a  felon !     What  may  I  not  live  to  see 
after  this  r" 

In  the  year  1788  two  events  happened  which 
paved  the  way  for  the  emancipation  of  the  Church 
from  the  penal  laws.  Prince  Charles  Edward 
died,  and  Bishop  Skinner  became  Primus.  The 
diocese  of  Aberdeen  in  a  synodical  meeting  held  at 
Longside  resolved  to  pray  for  King  George,  and 
soon  practically  the  whole  Church  had  followed 
their  lead.  In  the  subsequent  labours  for  the  re- 
peal of  the  penal  laws  which  occupied  the  next 
four  years,  the  Primus  was  the  leading  figure,  but 
"the  letters  of  the  period  quite  bear  out  the  state- 
ment that  the  energetic  Bishop  received  most  ef- 
fective help  from  his  equally  energetic  father."  "^ 
At  last,  in  1792,  after  many  disappointments  and 
delays,  the  days  of  legal  oppression  were  over  for 
the  Disestablished  Church.*"* 

To  enumerate  or  describe  the  numerous  writ- 
ings, controversial,  theological,  historical  and  oth- 
erwise, which  the  parson  of  Longside  produced 
during  his  long  life,  would  be  impossible  in  the 
space  at  our  disposal.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  his 
pen  was  ever  at  his  Church's  service,  whether  for 
her  defence  or  her  edification.  As  time  went  on, 
indeed,  he  so  impressed  his  views  and  speculations 
upon  the  Korthern  Church,  that,  to  quote  his  biog- 

""'Ihid.,  p.  597.  «« Walker,  p.   132. 

*®Not  till    1864,   however,   were   the   last  of  the   penal 
disabilities  removed. 


254  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

rapher,  ^^at  last  in  the  north  eastern  districts  there 
was  hardly  a  clergyman  that  did  not  think  his 
thoughts,  and  speak  his  language.  No  Bishop  had 
nearly  the  same  influence  on  opinion.  Not  one 
of  them,  indeed,  combined  in  the  same  degree  the 
chief  elements  of  moral  influence, — ^learning,  abil- 
ity, force  of  character,  and  opportunity/'  '"^  As  a 
teacher  of  candidates  for  Holy  Orders,  Skinner 
rendered  the  Church  most  valuable  service.  Most 
of  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Aberdeen  towards 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  were,  according  to 
his  grandson,  trained  by  him."  As  Dean  of  the 
diocese  from  at  least  1789  onwards  he  wielded  an 
ecclesiastical  influence  only  second  to  that  of  his 
son."  And,  as  we  have  seen,  his  influence  on  the 
views  and  activities  of  that  son  was  of  a  very  ex- 
tensive character. 

Despite  his  great  gifts  as  a  writer.  Skinner's 
literary  acquaintances  were  comparatively  few. 
One  conspicuous  exception  was  the  poet  Robert 
Burns,  with  whom,  although  the  two  bards  never 
met,  he  conducted  a  cordial  and  interesting  corres- 
pondence. Bums  had  a  very  high  opinion  of 
Skinner's  poetical  work,  and  indeed  induced  him 
to  contribute  several  songs  to  Johnsons  Museum, 
a  musical  publication  in  which  he  was  interested. 
Another  literary  acquaintance  was  John  Eamsay 

'« V^alker,  p.  153. 

''^Annals  of  Scottish  Episcopacy,  p.  468. 

"  Walker,  p.  156. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  255 

of  Ochtertyre,  the  friend  of  Scott,  and  the  patron 
of  Burns,  as  well  as  one  of  the  characters  from 
whom  the  famous  Antiquary,  Jonathan  Oldbuck, 
was  drawn.  Eamsay  has  left  behind  him  a  most 
interesting  picture  of  Skinner  and  his  surround- 
ings about  the  years  1792  and  1795,  at  which  dates 
he  visited  Linshart." 

Skinner's  home  had  little  charm  for  the  South- 
ern visitor,  being  "an  ugly  place  in  an  ugly  coun- 
try," bare  and  barren  of  trees,  with  a^black  and 
stagnated"  burn  passing  the  door.  The  house, 
one  story  high,  looked  mean  for  its  inhabitant. 
Its  furniture  was  plain  and  primitive,  and  peat 
burned  on  the  hearth,  there  being  no  chimney  in 
the  house.  Skinner,  despite  his  seventy  years,  and 
the  fact  that  he  had  recently  been  ill,  looked  like 
a  man  of  fifty.  His  figure  was  "portly  and  pleas- 
ing," his  appearance  was  fresh,  and  his  hair  was 
coal-black,  except  for  two  grey  tufts  on  his  cheeks. 
The  "originality  and  brilliancy"  of  his  conversa- 
tion, coupled  with  his  "courtesy  and  cordiality" 
as  a  host,  more  than  made  up  for  the  plainness  of 
his  surroundings.  "I  had  sometimes  been  in  the 
company  of  men  of  first-rate  wit  and  genius,  but 
never  saw  one  whose  social  hour  was  more  truly 
delightful  and  instructive."  Indeed  Burns  the 
poet,  whom  Ramsay  had  entertained  in  1787,  was 
the  one  who  came  nearest  to  him  "in  those  unpre- 

''^  Scotland,  etc.,  I,  p.  536  etc. 


256  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

meditated  flashes  of  wit  and  sentiment,  the  im- 
pulse of  the  moment,  which  bespeak  a  heart  preg- 
nant with  celestial  fire." 

In  the  course  of  his  second  visit  Eamsay,  Pres- 
byterian as  he  was,  attended  Sunday  service  at 
Longside.  He  was  struck  with  the  ^^strongly 
marked  faces"  of  the  people,  which  betokened  both 
sense  and  sharpness,  and  a  serious  frame  of  mind. 
Bonnets  and  parti-coloured  plaids  were  well  in 
evidence,  and  the  dress  of  the  congregation  seemed 
very  old  fashioned.  He  was  surprised  when  the 
service  began  with  a  psalm  "taken  from  the  As- 
sembly's version,"  and  the  precentor's  tone  and 
style  of  singing  made  him  fancy  himself  in  a  Pres- 
byterian Church,  till  the  reading  of  the  Liturgy 
dispelled  his  illusion.  Skinner's  sermon,  "pious, 
rational  and  impressive,  calculated  to  edify  peas- 
ants and  philosophers,"  was  conversational  in  de- 
livery, and  to  his  Southron  hearer,  its  length 
(about  forty  minutes)  and  its  "want  of  papers" 
seemed  equally  extraordinary  in  an  Episcopal 
Chapel. 

In  the  year  1789  Skinner  received  the  freedom 
of  the  city  of  old  Aberdeen,  where  his  imprison- 
ment had  taken  place  thirty-six  years  earlier,  and 
it  was  in  Aberdeen  that  his  life  closed.  He  had 
lost  the  wedded  partner  of  the  joys  and  sorrows  of 
fifty-eight  years  in  1799,  and  the  bereavement  was 
a  sore  and  trying  one,  from  which  he  never  recov- 
ered.   At  last,  in  the  spring  of  1807  he  agreed,  at 


SEABURY  MEMORIAL   TABLET 
Aberdeen  University 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  257 

the  invitation  of  his  son  the  Bishop,  to  leave  Long- 
side  in  the  charge  of  his  grandson  and  assistant, 
the  Kev.  John  Gumming,  and  spend  the  rest  of  his 
days  in  Aberdeen.  His  life  however  was  very 
near  its  close.  Arriving  at  his  son's  house  on 
June  4th,  he  suddenly  passed  away  in  the  Bishop's 
arms  on  the  16th,  and  his  long  and  faithful  service 
of  the  Church  militant  was  over.  It  was  a  ser- 
vice indeed  which  brought  him  little  earthly  re- 
ward except  the  joy  of  performance,  but  its  record 
is  worthy  of  an  imperishable  place  in  the  annals 
of  the  Church  which  he  loved  so  well. 


VII-MODERN  TIMES 

John  Dowden 
Bishop  of  Edinburgh 

(Bom  1840— Died  1910) 

The  modern  spirit  of  change,  which  we  see  in 
these  days  operating  so  powerfully  on  every  side, 
has  done  very  much  to  alter  the  aspect  of  religious 
life  in  Scotland.  Old  customs,  old  prejudices  and 
points  of  view  have  been,  or  are  being,  silently 
broken  up  by  powerful  solvents,  while  new  knowl- 
edge and  new  thought  have  come  pouring  in  like  a 
mighty  flood.  Not  only  is  this  true  of  the  general 
religious  sentiment  and  standpoint  throughout  the 
land,  but  most  of  the  religious  communities  in  it 
have  likewise  undergone  a  definite  transformation. 
Certainly  those  old  antagonists,  Presbytery  and 
Episcopacy,  have  altered  almost  beyond  belief.  If 
the  former,^  with  its  organs  and  not  infrequent 
liturgic  services,  its  use  of  ecclesiastical  titles 
which  do  not  suggest  the  parity  of  its  presbyters, 
its  chancels,  painted  windows  and  even  church 
statuary,  its  dislike  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 

^This  refers  mainly  to  Presbyterianism  as  established. 
The  "Wee  Frees"  still  seek  to  walk  in  the  old  paths. 


JOHN   DOWDEN,   D.D. 
Late  Bishop  of  Edinburgh 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  259 

sion,  and  other  departures  from  old  standards, 
would  with  difficulty  be  recognised,  and  with  still 
greater  difficulty  be  acknowledged  by  the  heroes 
of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  it  is  not  to 
be  forgotten  that  the  changes  in  the  outward  and 
the  inward  life  of  Scottish  Episcopacy  have  also 
been  very  great.  It  also  has  been  moulded  and 
developed  amidst  the  play  of  modern  influences. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
adherents  of  Episcopal  principles  were  still  dimin- 
ishing in  number.  The  deadly  effect  of  the  penal 
laws  remained  long  after  their  removal,  and  to 
men  of  faith  and  piety  like  Bishop  Jolly,  all  that 
seemed  possible  was  to  keep  the  dying  embers  of 
the  Church  as  long  alight  as  possible.  As  the  old 
clergy  in  the  remote  country  districts  and  in  the 
Highlands  died  out,  whole  congregations  were  lost 
owing  to  the  impossibility  of  finding  fresh  pastors. 
In  these  cases  the  old  people  remained  as  a  rule 
staunch  to  the  principles  in  which  they  had  been 
trained,  and  kept  aloof  from  Presbyterian  ordin- 
ances. Their  children,  however,  were  less  likely 
to  maintain  this  attitude,  and  when  the  disruption 
of  1843  came,  many  of  them  are  said  to  have 
joined  the  Free  Church.  Indeed,  it  is  said  that 
the  "Wee  Frees"  in  some  Highland  districts  to- 
day are  largely  descended  from  those  shepherdless 
Episcopalians,  who  were  caught  in  the  extraordin- 
ary wave  of  spiritual  feeling  which  pervaded 
Scotland  at  that  crisis,   and  who  doubtless   also 


260  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

counted  it  to  their  credit  to  share  in  a  great  popu- 
lar movement  against  the  establishment  which 
their  fathers  would  have  none  of. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  exactly  when  this  dwind- 
ling process  came  to  an  end,  but  the  Oxford  move- 
ment of  1833  produced  a  great  and  stimulating 
effect  upon  the  "Catholic  remnant"  in  Scotland. 
The  English  Tractarian  leaders  were  strongly 
drawn  towards  the  Scottish  Church,  with  its  free- 
dom from  State  control  and  its  high  ideals  of  prim- 
itive truth  and  Apostolic  order.  In  Scotland  too  the 
teaching  of  Newman,  Pusey  and  Keble  fell  upon 
many  places  like  seed  upon  prepared  soil.  It  is 
true  indeed,  that  certain  aspects  of  that  teach- 
ing evoked  no  less  opposition  in  some  quarters  than 
enthusiastic  assent  in  others.  The  Eucharistic 
Controversy  of  1857-60  seemed  at  one  time  likely 
to  shake  the  little  Church  to  its  foundations.  A 
presbyter,  the  Eev.  Patrick  Cheyne  of  Aberdeen, 
was  suspended  from  his  sacred  functions  for  the 
teaching  contained  in  his  Six  Sermons  on  the  Most 
Holy  Eucharist,  while  the  good  Bishop  A.  P. 
Forbes  of  Brechin  was  censured  and  admonished 
by  his  brother  Bishops  for  a  similar  reason. 

Other  important  influences  upon  the  member- 
ship of  the  Church  were  the  gradual  reconciling  of 
the  "qualified"  chapels,  with  their  English  or  anti- 
Jacobite  congregations,  and  the  increased  facili- 
ties for  communication  and  travel,  which  have  ad- 
ded so  many  English  and  Irish  residents  to  the 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  261 

population  of  Scotland.  To  this  latter  circum- 
stance, as  well  as  to  the  use  of  a  Prayer  Book  which 
bears  on  its  title-page  the  legend,  According  to 
the  use  of  the  Church  of  England,  is  to  be  as- 
cribed the  fact  that  the  old  Disestablished  Kirk 
of  Scotland  is  so  commonly  but  so  wrongly  called 
^^The  English  Church."  Hence  also  the  ready 
credence  to  the  frequent  charge,  made  by  those 
who  ought  to  know  better,  that  Scottish  Episcopacy 
is  an  alien  on  Scottish  soil,  an  exotic  plant  from 
England.  Hard  words,  however,  do  not  hurt  like 
penal  laws,  and  in  time,  doubtless,  historic  truth 
will  prevail. 

It  is  of  course  undeniable  that  one  of  the 
prominent  features  in  the  nineteenth  century  de- 
velopment of  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church  has 
been  its  closer  approximation  to  the  Church  of 
England.  This  process  has  been  going  on  since 
the  repeal  of  the  penal  laws,  one  of  the  condi- 
tions of  which  was  the  acceptance  of  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles  of  Religion  by  the  Scottish  Church. 
This  acceptance  was  not  consummated  till  1804, 
when  the  convocation  of  Laurencekirk  accepted 
the  English  formulary  without  qualification.  An- 
other step  was  taken  in  1811,  when,  mainly 
through  the  influence  of  the  learned  Bishop  Gleig, 
it  was  enacted  that  the  words  of  the  English  lit- 
urgy should  be  strictly  adhered  to  at  Morning  and 
Evening  Prayer,  and  that  the  use  of  the  surplice 
should  be  introduced  with  prudence  and  discre- 


262  BIOORAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

tion.  Again  in  1864  the  removal  by  Parliament 
of  the  disqualification  of  Scottish  Clergy  from  offi- 
ciating or  holding  a  benefice  in  England,  drew  the 
two  Churches  much  more  closely  together. 

It  is  not  easy  to  realise,  in  these  days  of  seemly 
Churches,  surpliced  choirs,  and  musical  services, 
how  great  the  difference  is  between  the  state  of 
things  ecclesiastical  in  the  first  half  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  and  that  of  the  second  half.  So  late 
as  1830-8  all  the  six  Bishops  of  the  church  be- 
longed to  the  North  East,  and  three  of  them  lived 
within  the  diocese  of  Aberdeen.  Up  to  that  time 
everything  indigenously  Episcopal  in  Scotland 
bore  the  Aberdeen  hall-mark.  And  in  that  dio- 
cese the  Churches  were  very  plain  and  humble 
buildings.  Chancels  were  unknown,  and  the  three- 
decker  or  two-decker  was  an  imposing  feature  of 
the  interior.  Till  the  year  1819  the  only  vest- 
ment used  was  the  black  gown,  with  a  black  stole 
or  scarf,  and  white  linen  bands.  After  the  synod 
of  that  year  the  surplice  was  used  by  all  the  clergy 
in  the  diocese,  but  the  black  gown  and  bands  con- 
tinued to  be  generally  used  in  the  pulpit  until 
well  into  the  second  half  of  the  century.  The 
services  were  very  plain,  the  psalms  being  always 
read.  The  Holy  Communion  was  usually  cele- 
brated four  or  five  times  a  year  until  about  the 
sixties,  when  monthly  celebrations  began  to  be  in- 
troduced. The  Scottish  Communion  Office  was  of 
course  the  diocesan  "use,"  and  to  this  day  there 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  263 

are  congregations  in  the  diocese  where  the  English 
Office  has  never  been  heard/ 

The  figure  chosen  to  illustrate  the  latest  pe- 
riod of  the  Church's  development,  is  that  of  one 
who  was  by  birth  neither  a  Scotsman  nor  an  Epis- 
copalian. John  Dowden  was  an  unmistakable 
Irishman,  with  his  delicate  appreciation  of  art  and 
literature,  his  keen  sense  of  humour,  and,  let  it 
not  be  denied,  his  thorough  joj  in  a  good  fight. 
And  yet  no  one  could  have  understood  and  loved 
the  Scottish  Church  more  than  he  did.  His  knowl- 
edge of  her  true  ideals,  and  his  sympathy  with  her 
real  needs  rendered  his  services  of  particular  value, 
and  today  the  impress  of  his  influence  is  visible 
upon  her  life  in  many  directions.  Our  improved 
service  book  and  the  widely  extended  use  of  the 
Scottish  Communion  Office  are  largely  due  to  his 
efforts.  His  wide  and  accurate  scholarship,  and 
the  valuable  works  which  he  produced  in  the 
spheres  of  history  and  liturgiology,  have  not  only 
brought  credit  to  the  Church  of  which  he  was  an 
ornament,  but  have  also  stimulated  and  guided 
study  within  it,  and  raised  the  standard  of  knowl- 
edge in  these  departments.  And  the  effect  of  his 
powerful  and  winning  personality  upon  those  who 
knew  him  well,  especially  upon  his  theological  stu- 


2  See  Walker:   Remimscenses  Academical  and  Ecclesias- 
tical, Chap.  XII. 


264  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

dents  now  in  the  ministry,  is  one  that  time  will  not 
readily  efface. 

The  future  Bishop  of  Edinburgh  was  bom  in 
the  old  and  historic  city  of  Cork  on  St.  Peter's 
Day,  1840.  His  father,  John  Wheeler  Dowden, 
was  a  man  of  remarkable  character  and  ability. 
Closely  engaged  in  business  as  he  was,  he  found 
time  both  to  keep  himself  abreast  with  the  march 
of  modern  thought,  and  to  attend  to  the  wants  of 
his  poorer  neighbours.  "The  most  unselfish  man 
I  ever  met,"  "one  of  the  best  and  wisest  men  I 
ever  knew,"  these  are  two  tributes  to  his  character, 
the  first  by  his  son,  the  second  by  the  late  Dr. 
Salmon,  Provost  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  Mrs. 
Dowden  whose  wise  and  loving  care  was  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  boy's  early  training,  was  at 
one  with  her  husband  in  a  lifelong  generosity 
which  many  a  poor  inhabitant  of  Cork  had  abund- 
ant reason  to  bless.  While  her  husband  was  a 
staunch  Presbyterian,  she  was  a  devoted  member 
of  the  Church  of  Ireland.  Thus  it  came  about 
that  John  learnt  both  the  Shorter  Catechism  and 
the  Church  Catechism,  and  that  on  Sundays  he 
would  attend  the  Presbyterian  service  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  go  with  his  mother  to  that  of  the  Church 
of  Ireland  in  the  evening. 

The  lad's  early  education  was  imparted  in 
Cork,  partly  at  school,  and  partly  by  private  tu- 
tors. At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  Queen's 
College,  Cork,  with  the  intention  of  becoming  a 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  265 

medical  man.  Of  his  studies  we  know  little,  ex- 
cept that  he  gained  a  scholarship  both  in  his  first 
and  in  his  second  year.  Among  his  teachers  was 
Bunnell  Lewis,  Professor  of  Latin,  a  keen  antiqua- 
rian and  a  lover  of  books,  who  may  have  given  a 
bent  to  Dowden's  mind.  To  the  class  in  general 
it  was  amusing  to  watch  the  reverence  and  care 
with  which  the  Professor  would  handle  some  dingy 
old  tome,  but  not  so  to  the  future  Vice  President 
of  the  Scottish  Society  of  Antiquaries  and  the  ar- 
dent book  collector  of  later  days,  well  known 
among  the  bookshops  and  stalls  of  Edinburgh. 

About  this  time  John  and  his  brother  Edward, 
afterwards  Professor  of  English  Literature  in 
Dublin  University,  paid  their  first  visit  to  Scot- 
land, in  the  course  of  which  they  came  to  the  Scot- 
tish Capital.  Of  his  sojourn  in  the  scene  of  his 
future  Episcopate  the  Bishop  used  to  recall  two 
events,  his  purchase  of  an  old  book  in  Mr.  Thin's 
well-known  shop,  and  his  sitting  upon  the  steps 
of  a  city  Church  pulpit  to  listen  to  a  sermon 
preached  by  the  famous  Dr.  Guthrie  to  a  crowded 
congregation. 

The  studies  at  Queen's  College  were  interrupted 
by  ill-health,  which  continued  to  hamper  young 
Dowden  during  his  University  career,  and  indeed 
during  the  rest  of  his  sojourn  in  Ireland.  His 
views  as  to  a  career  also  became  modified,  and  the 
ministry  of  the  Church  of  Ireland  began  to  seem 
more  attractive  than  the  medical  profession.     His 


266  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

father  with  characteristic  promptitude  and  open- 
mindedness  resolved  to  send  him  to  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin,  of  which  he  became  an  undergradu- 
ate in  October,  1858. 

One  of  the  most  notable  of  the  fellows  of 
Trinity  at  that  time  was  George  Salmon,  a  rela- 
tion of  the  young  entrant.  Dr.  Salmon  had  not 
as  yet  begun  his  brilliant  and  remarkable  career  as 
a  theologian,  nor  had  the  disestablishment  of  the 
Irish  Church  arrived,  to  evoke  his  gifts  as  a  finan- 
cier and  a  practical  adviser  whose  ^^strong  com- 
mon sense  amounted  at  times  to  genius."  Yet  he 
had  achieved  an  European  reputation  as  a  master 
in  the  realm  of  pure  mathematics,  and  the  life  of 
the  University  was  enriched  by  the  presence  of  his 
splendid  intellect,  wedded  as  it  was  to  a  nature 
lovable  and  simple,  even  to  quaintness.  John 
Dowden  came  at  once  under  the  spell  of  his 
attraction,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  Salmon's 
personality  was  a  powerful  factor  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  younger  man's  character.  A  close  and 
affectionate  friendship  sprang  up  between  the  two, 
and  continued  until  the  Provost's  death  in  1904. 

Unlike  as  they  were  in  many  respects,  there  was 
much  in  common  between  the  Bishop's  character, 
as  known  in  later  life,  and  that  of  his  distinguished 
relative.  In  both  there  was  a  supreme  determina- 
tion, which  regarded  neither  time  nor  trouble,  to 
get  at  real  facts,  and  a  corresponding  hatred  of 
shams  and  evasions.     In  both  could  be  discerned 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  267 

a  touching  humility,  and  a  wide  human  sympathy. 
The  man  of  business  who  dropped  into  the  Bish- 
op's study  in  Edinburgh  would  remark  upon  the 
kind  courtesy  and  the  simple  readiness  of  the 
scholar  to  listen  and  learn,  just  as  the  Dublin  stu- 
dent did  when  he  consulted  the  Divinity  Profes- 
sor. And  if  a  warm  heart  and  a  turn  for  humour 
are  not  uncommon  Irish  qualities,  in  both  these 
men  was  a  self-restraint  which  checked  their  too 
exuberant  expression.  "I  always  fear,"  writes 
the  younger  to  the  elder,  "seeming  enthusiastical 
before  you,  and  cut  myself  down  to  what  I  think 
the  level  of  extraordinary  common-sense." 

Dowden's  University  life  was  marked  by  hard 
study  and  exceptionally  wide  reading,  but  his 
chance  of  obtaining  a  brilliant  degree  was  marred 
by  frequent  ill-health  and  bodily  weakness.  Ath- 
letics were  beyond  his  range,  and  the  amiable 
frivolities  of  student  life  had  little  attraction  for 
him.  A  ramble  with  a  kindred  spirit  round 
Howth  or  Donnybrook,  or  in  summer  a  swim  at 
Kingstown  afforded  the  exercise  which  he  needed. 
His  intense  love  of  music  found  gratification  in 
the  services  of  the  College  Chapel,  and  in  attend- 
ance at  concerts  and  oratorios  where  famous  musi- 
cians might  be  heard.  The  rooms  which  he  and 
his  brother  Edward  shared  at  Ifo.  17  Trinity  Col- 
lege became  the  resort  of  brainy  men.  "No  drink- 
ing or  cardplaying",  we  are  told  by  a  contempo- 
rary, was  to  be  found  there.  Dowden's  chief  delight 


268  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

was  to  discuss  those  everlasting  metaphysical  and 
theological  questions  which  present  themselves  to 
the  growing  minds  of  young  men  at  Universities 
everywhere.  Of  his  spiritual  life  at  this  time 
much  might  be  said,  but  it  seems  better  to  imi- 
tate his  own  reticence  on  such  a  subject.  His 
diaries  reveal  simple  and  deep  religious  convic- 
tions, a  high  ideal  of  the  Christian  life,  and  a 
sincere  effort  to  reach  it.  To  cultivate  truth  in 
the  inward  parts  was  his  great  desire.  His  prayer 
on  New  Year's  Day,  1862,  was  for  "a  greater 
truthfulness  of  heart,  a  greater  respect  for  the 
truth  in  everyday  conversation."  "Let  me  feel," 
he  says  on  another  occasion,  "that  I  have  gone  some 
way  to  cultivating  a  truthful  habit,  before  I  go 
seeking  after  the  truth." 

In  1861  Dowden  graduated  B.A.  with  first 
class  honours  in  Logic  and  Ethics,  gaining  at  the 
same  time  the  second  senior  moderatorship,  with 
a  gold  medal.  He  now  decided  to  join  the  Divin- 
ity Class,  much  to  his  father's  delight,  and  he  was 
confirmed  by  Archbishop  Whately  in  1862.  The 
theological  atmosphere  was  electrical  during  this 
period,  and  for  a  time  Dowden,  like  several  of  his 
fellows,  came  under  its  influence.  He  wavered  as 
to  whether  he  could  subscribe  to  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  and  the  Prayer  Book,  especially  the  Ath- 
anasian  Creed,  but  eventually  the  trouble  passed. 
On  the  17th  July,  1864,  he  was  ordained  deacon  at 
Kilmore  Cathedral  by  Bishop  Verschoyle,  to  the 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  269 

curacy  of  St.  John's,  Sligo.  In  the  following  Sep- 
tember he  was  wedded  to  Miss  Louisa  Jones,  a  lady 
whom  he  had  first  met  in  Cork,  and  with  whom 
renewed  acquaintance  in  Dublin  had  ripened  into 
love. 

The  years  which  were  now  spent  in  Sligo  and 
its  suburb  Calry''  were  very  important  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  young  cleric's  character.  His 
parochial  labours  were  constant  and  trying,  and 
although  he  was  sometimes  oppressed  with  a  sense 
of  unfitness,  there  is  no  doubt  that  his  work  met 
with  success.  His  intellectual  gifts  were  doubtless 
more  fitted  for  an  educated  city  congregation  than 
for  the  mental  environment  of  a  provincial  town, 
and  the  impression  that  he  was  ^^a  High  Church- 
man" did  not  tend  to  help  matters.  Yet  when  he 
left  Sligo  his  old  rector,  the  Eev.  Edward  Day, 
testified  that  he  had  won  the  respect  and  esteem 
not  only  of  his  own  parishioners,  but  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  town,  of  all  ranks  and  classes. 

Yet  the  gifts  which  Dowden  had  for  the  service 
of  the  Church  and  its  Master  were  preeminently 
those  of  a  scholar,  and  all  through  the  Sligo  period 
we  find  him  hard  at  work  in  his  study.  The  en- 
thusiasm for  metaphysics*  which  had  up  till  now 


'  Dowden  became  perpetual  curate  of  Calry  in  1867. 

*His  first  published  work  was  entitled  Observations 
on  Some  Aids  to  Personal  Religion  Afforded  hy  Mental 
Science,  delivered  as  the  Presidential  lecture  to  the  Uni- 
versity Theological  Society  in  1862. 


270  BIOGRAPHICAL  8TUDIE8  IN 

determined  his  bent,  began  to  give  place  to  a  taste 
for  liturgical  investigation,  and  he  started  also  to 
lay  more  securely  the  foundations  of  his  knowl- 
edge of  theology.  Nor  was  he  insensible  to  the 
historical  and  antiquarian  associations  of  the  coun- 
try around  Sligo,  as  his  history  of  the  Celtic  Church 
in  Scotland^  afterwards  shewed.  In  1866  he  be- 
came a  contributor  of  reviews  to  the  newly  started 
Contemporary  Review,  of  which  Dean  Alford  was 
editor,  and  three  years  later  his  first  article  in  that 
periodical  appeared,  on  Arthur  Hugh  Clough. 
Dowden's  literary  interests  were  kept  in  full  ac- 
tivity by  constant  correspondence  with  his  brother 
about  men  and  books,  and  by  interchange  of  son- 
nets and  other  poems.  As  secretary  of  the  Sligo 
Choral  union  he  formed  an  acquaintance  which 
had  a  great  influence  on  his  future  career.  The 
conductor  of  the  society  was  the  Eev.  W.  Percy 
Robinson,  then  head  of  the  diocesan  school  in 
Sligo,  and  afterwards  Warden  of  Glenalmond  Col- 
lege in  Scotland,  and  it  was  by  no  mere  coincidence 
that  Dowden  a  few  years  later  became  head  of  the 
Theological  Department  of  the  same  institution 
of  the  Scottish  Church. 

Dowden  was  still  in  Sligo  at  the  time  of  the 
disestablishment  of  the  Church  of  Ireland,  and 
when  the  resultant  movement  for  the  revision  of 
the  Irish  Prayer  Book  began,  he  was  already  a 

'^  See  pp.  94,  95. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  271 

serious  liturgical  student.  He  contributed  an 
article  in  1871  to  the  Contemporary  Review^  on 
Literary  Aspects  of  Prayerhook  revision,  which 
attracted  considerable  attention  in  England  and 
Ireland.  His  desire  was  that  doctrinal  questions 
should  be  avoided,  and  that  only  changes  of  a  lit- 
erary kind  should  be  undertaken.  The  following 
characteristic  passage  may  be  quoted,  as  illustrat- 
ing the  spirit  in  which  all  his  own  work  was  done : 

"May  it  be  granted  to  those  who  in  the 
Irish  Church  have  been  appointed  to  this  most 
responsible  task  to  feel  that  nothing  is  light 
or  trivial  in  the  work  before  them — that  the 
heading  of  a  collect,  the  alteration  of  a  letter, 
the  shifting  of  a  comma,  is  each  a  work  to  be 
done  in  the  Name,  and  to  the  Glory  of  God, 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Dr.  Littledale,  the  well-known  liturgical  scholar, 
recognising  "the  hand  of  one  who  knows  what 
he  is  writing  about,"  entered  into  correspondence 
with  the  author,  and  Dr.  Salmon,  the  originator  of 
the  Prayer  Book  Revision  Committee,  invited  him 
to  send  suggestions  for  reform.  "If  you  will 
spoonfeed  me,"  he  wrote,  "I  will  spoonfeed  their 
Lordships,  and  perhaps  some  few  grains  may  get 
down."  Nothing  loth  Dowden  set  to  work  and 
furnished  a  considerable  number  of  suggestions  on 

®  In  December  1872  an  article  on  The  American  Prayer 
Book  from  his  pen  appeared  in  the  same  publication. 


272  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

the  lines  of  his  article.  The  temper  of  the  revis- 
ionists, however,  v^as  set  in  other  directions  than 
that  of  mere  literary  improvements,  and  as  far  as 
Ireland  was  concerned  the  Sligo  curate's  liturgical 
labours  had  no  effect.  Yet  in  the  year  1911  his 
work  was  quoted  by  one  well  qualified  to  judge  as 
"a  precious  mine  of  information  and  suggestion" 
for  the  revision  of  the  English  Prayer  Book.' 

In  1870  there  came  an  appointment  as  chap- 
lain to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  Lord 
Spencer,  which  entailed  an  occasional  preaching 
visit  to  the  Chapel  Royal  in  Dublin,  and  two  years 
later  Dowden  removed  to  that  city  as  one  of  the 
curates  of  St.  Stephen's  Church  under  his  old 
Divinity  lecturer.  Archdeacon  Lee.  The  congre- 
gation of  St.  Stephen's  was  a  highly  cultivated  one, 
and  Dowden's  ministrations  were  much  appreci- 
ated there.  His  sojourn  of  less  than  two  years  in 
the  capital  city  was,  however,  anything  but  a  mo- 
notonous one.  Feeling  was  running  high  in  Dublin 
over  Prayer  Book  revision  and  ritualism,  and 
Dowden  threw  himself  into  the  fray  with  much 
zest.  He  published  a  sermon  on  The  Saints  in  the 
Calendar  and  the  Irish  Synod,  attacking  with 
much  vigour  the  proposal  to  remove  the  names  of 
the  black-letter  Saints  from  the  Irish  calendar, 
as  ^^thoroughly  and  vulgarly  provincial,"  and  he 
came  into  conflict  with  St.  Stephen's  congregation 

^  Frere.    Some  principles  of  Liturgical  reform,  p.  viii. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  273 

by  refusing,  at  Archdeacon  Lee's  request,  to  use 
the  revised  lectionary  that  was  issued  by  the  Irish 
Greneral  Synod  in  18Y3.  Although  in  the  end  he 
gave  way  on  this  latter  point,  it  is  unlikely  that 
his  further  contributions  to  the  difficult  ecclesiasti- 
cal situation  would  have  been  of  a  soothing  charac- 
ter. When  therefore  on  the  7th  of  May,  1874, 
Bishop  Forbes  of  Brechin  wrote  offering  him  in 
the  name  of  the  Scottish  Bishops  the  post  of  Pan- 
tonian  Professor  of  Theology  at  Glenalmond,  to- 
gether with  the  Bell  Lecturership  on  Education, 
it  was  probably  with  a  sense  of  relief  that  he 
grasped  the  opportunity  of  escape  from  the  tur- 
moil of  Irish  Church  affairs.  His  old  colleague  in 
the  Sligo  Choral  Society,  the  Eev.  Percy  Robinson, 
had  recommended  Dowden  to  the  Bishops  as  a 
man  of  learning  and  ability,  and  thus  in  Septem- 
ber he  entered  upon  his  thirty-six  years  of  service 
in  the  Scottish  Episcopal  Church. 

It  was  not  as  a  complete  stranger  that  Profes- 
sor Dowden  came  to  his  new  sphere  of  work.  His 
visit  to  Scotland  as  a  youth  had  bred  in  his  mind 
an  interest  in  the  notable  men  and  affairs  of  the 
country,  and  his  liturgical  studies  had  made  him 
familiar  with  the  beauty  of  the  Scottish  Commun- 
ion Office.  He  had  besides  been  a  contributor  to 
the  Scottish  Guardian,  the  weekly  organ  of  the 
Episcopal  Church.  Yet  he  could  hardly  have 
realized  how  interesting  and  important  was  the 


274  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

juncture  at  which  he  threw  in  his  lot  with  Scot- 
tish Episcopacy. 

In  the  early  seventies  of  last  century  this 
Church  was  entering  upon  a  stage  of  rich  and  va- 
ried development  which  is  still  continuous.  The 
death  in  1872  of  the  genial  and  famous  Dean  Kam- 
say  seems,  as  we  look  backward,  to  mark  the  pass- 
ing away  of  an  old  order  of  things.  The  final 
removal  in  1864  of  the  legal  disabilities  which  re- 
mained after  the  penal  laws  were  repealed,  had 
lifted  from  the  minds  of  Scottish  Episcopalians 
the  weight  which  a  sense  of  injustice  and  oppres- 
sion always  produces.  A  spirit  of  healthy  enter- 
prise soon  made  itself  felt.  The  development  of 
the  modern  cathedral  system*  in  Scotland  received 
a  new  impetus,  and  more  important  still,  a  new 
democratic  movement  in  the  Church  was  felt, 
which  resulted  in  the  gradual  widening  of  the 
powers  of  the  laity  in  Church  affairs.  The  chief 
stages  of  this  movement  have  been  the  formation 
of  the  Representative  Church  Council  in  1876 
for  the  management  of  finance,  and  that  of  the 
Consultative  Committee  on  Church  Legislation  in 
1905.  The  first  of  these  bodies  is  composed 
equally  of  clergy  and  laity,  and  the  existence  of 
the  second  ensures  that  before  any  fresh  legislation 
can  be  passed  by  the  Provincial  Synod,  the  laity 
shall  be  informed  of  what  is  proposed,  and  shall 

®  See  Appendix  F  on  The  Modern  Scottish  Cathedrals, 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  275 

have  ample  opportunity  of  expressing  the  lay 
mind  on  the  subject,  whatever  it  may  be. 

At  this  time  too  did  the  Church  begin,  late 
enough  in  the  day,  to  awaken  to  a  keener  sense 
of  her  missionary  duty  in  the  evangelization  of 
the  world.  Definite  responsibilities  were  under- 
taken at  Chanda,  in  the  Central  Provinces  of  In- 
dia, and  in  the  diocese  of  Kaffraria  in  South 
Africa.  Dr.  Callaway,  the  first  Bishop  of  Kaffra- 
ria, was  consecrated  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  Edin- 
burgh in  1873.  And  in  answer,  it  would  seem,  to 
the  Church's  awakening  sense  of  responsibility 
came  the  noble  legacy  of  the  Misses  Walker,  by 
which  a  sum  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million 
pounds  was  left  in  trust  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Church.  The  fine  Cathedral  of  St.  Mary  in  Edin- 
burgh stands  as  the  most  conspicuous  result  of 
this  benefaction,  but  its  general  beneficent  effect 
upon  a  poor  and  struggling  Communion  is  equally 
visible  to  all  who  have  eyes  to  see. 

Thus  it  was  given  to  Mr.  Dowden  to  witness 
and  to  bear  his  share  in  a  notable  work  of  Church 
expansion  and  consolidation.  Insignificant  in 
point  of  numbers  as  the  Church  was  and  is,  when 
we  consider  the  whole  population  of  Scotland,  yet 
her  relative  growth  has  been  striking.  The 
60,000  souls  which  she  shepherded  in  1873  *  had 

®  The  Church  Society  Report  for  this  year  gives  figures 
which  amount  to  55,000,  but  there  are  some  gaps  in  the 
lists. 


276  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

grown  to  140,000  bj  the  time  of  Bishop  Dowden's 
death.  Her  202  Churches  had  become  in  the  same 
period  388,  and  her  202  clergy  about  332.  And 
whereas  in  1872-3  the  total  givings  through  the 
Church  society  amounted  to  £6792,  over  £23,000 
was  contributed  in  1909  to  the  funds  of  the  Eep- 
resentative  Church  Council.  Small  enough  these 
figures  seem  alongside  of  the  great  things  which  are 
being  achieved  around  us  in  Scotland,  yet  to  us  at 
least  they  are  a  sign  of  God's  blessing  on  our  handi- 
work, and  a  cheering  promise  for  the  years  to 
come. 

Trinity  College,  Glenalmond,  was  opened  in 
1847,  chiefly  through  the  exertions  of  the  late  Mr. 
W.  E.  Gladstone  and  his  friend  Mr.  James  Hope. 
Beautifully  situated  on  the  wooded  bank  of  the 
Almond,  and  surrounded  by  the  Perthshire  hills, 
it  was  designed  so  as  to  combine  the  features  of  a 
public  school  and  of  a  theological  seminary.  It 
was  hoped  thus  to  increase  the  influence  of  the 
Church's  theological  college,  which  had  existed  in 
Edinburgh  since  1824  and  was  now  transferred 
to  its  new  abode,  and  to  foster  in  the  school  a 
sense  of  vocation  for  the  ministry.  But  the  ex- 
periment had  not  succeeded,  associated  though  it 
was  with  the  names  of  men  like  Wordsworth,  Bar- 
ry, Bright,  Hannah,  and  Browne.  Candidates  for 
the  ministry  were  not  attracted  in  the  hoped-for 
numbers,  and  those  who  came  did  not  always  get 
on  well  with  the  school  boys.     The  appointment  of 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  277 

Dowden  was  part  of  an  effort  by  the  Scottish  Bish- 
ops to  infuse  new  life  into  the  theological  depart- 
ment, although  all  unconsciously  they  were  intro- 
ducing into  the  situation  the  strong  man  who  was 
to  cut  the  difficult  knot,  and  be  the  chief  agent  in 
restoring  the  theological  college  to  Edinburgh. 

On  arriving  at  Glenalmond  the  new  Professor 
found  to  his  disappointment  that  his  class  was  to 
consist  of  one  solitary  student.  In  after  days  he 
used  to  joke  about  his  "one  ewe  lamb,"  who  in 
due  course  departed  from  Trinity  College  to  be 
ordained,  leaving  the  Professor  for  a  time  without 
anyone  to  instruct.  Yet  it  was  with  a  sense  of 
dissipated  energy  that  he  strove  single-handed,  then 
and  afterwards,  to  impart  instruction  in  all  the 
branches  of  theology.  "My  style  and  dignity,"  he 
once  said  to  an  eminent  professor  of  the  Free 
Church,  "is  that  of  Pantonian*"  Professor,  so  called 
from  the  Greek  Travrwv  because  I  am  Professor  of 
all  things." 

However,  fresh  students  began  to  appear,  and 
the  quiet  academic  life  offered  opportunities  for 
study  which  were  entirely  congenial  to  Dowden. 
In  particular  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of 
the  Scotch  Communion  Office,  the  knowledge  and 
appreciation  of  which  he  was  in  after  days  to  do 
so  much  to  spread.  His  duties  as  Bell  Lecturer 
on  Education  also  brought  him  into  touch  with  the 

"The  endowment  of  the  professorship  was  left  by  Miss 
Katherine  Panton,  an  Aberdeenshire  Churchwoman,  in  1823. 


278  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Church  in  Edinburgh,  where  he  delivered  lectures. 
At  the  end  of  about  twelve  months  a  serious  fire 
occurred  which  caused  the  theological  department 
to  be  removed  to  Edinburgh.  This  v/as  decided 
upon  only  as  a  temporary  expedient,  but  Dowden 
now  raised  the  question  whether  it  would  not  be 
better  that  the  college  should  remain  in  the  capi- 
tal. Besides  the  arguments  which  he  advanced  as 
to  the  benefits  of  life  in  a  University  city,  access 
to  modem  libraries,  and  the  possibility  of  increas- 
ing the  teaching  staff,  he  added  an  unanswerable 
one,  culled  from  the  Panton  trust  deed,  which  re- 
quired the  Theological  Professor  to  deliver  his  lec- 
tures in  Edinburgh.  "The  College,"  he  said,  "may 
return  to  Glenalmond,  but  the  Pantonian  Professor 
remains  here!"  After  a  good  deal  of  hot  contro- 
versy Dowden  was  allowed  to  have  his  way.  The 
students  received  instruction  in  various  places  in 
Edinburgh  for  several  years,  but  the  College  is  now 
housed  permanently  and  well  at  Coates  Hall  in 
Eosebery  Crescent.  The  existence  of  this  fine 
pile  of  buildings,  with  its  full  complement  of  stu- 
dents in  residence,  and  a  fairly  adequate  staff  of 
teachers,  is  the  best  possible  proof  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  stand  which  Dowden  made  against  return- 
ing to  Glenalmond. 

In  his  work  as  a  teacher.  Dr.  Dowden' s"  per- 
sonality counted  for  more  than  anything  else.    His 

"He  became  D.D.  of  Dublin  in  1876,  and  received  the 
degree  of  LL.D.  from  Edinburgh  University  in  1904. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  279 

lectures  were  apt  to  be  discursive,  and  his  methods 
were  not  those  of  the  crammer.  To  the  average 
student  too  his  insistence  upon  exactness  in 
minutiae  was  felt  to  be  something  of  a  trial  at  ex- 
amination times.  But  the  sight  of  the  alert  figure 
moving  about  the  lecture  room,  the  keen  face 
afire,  the  eager  hands  pulling  down  from  the 
shelves  a  volume  here  and  another  there,  in  order 
that  the  students  might  look  at  original  authorities, 
was  itself  a  stimulus  and  an  inspiration.  ^^ Verify 
your  references"  was  a  maxim  continually  upon 
his  lips.  Slovenly  and  inaccurate  work  was  his 
despair.  But  when  he  found  that  he  had  struck 
fire  in  any  member  of  his  class  his  joy  was  great. 
No  trouble  was  too  great  to  take  when  a  willing 
student  wanted  guidance.  And  no  one  could  have 
been  more  sympathetic  or  patient  when  help  was 
sought  in  intellectual  or  other  difiiculties.  The 
following  extract  from  a  letter  to  a  student  will 
illustrate  this,  and  also  shew  his  opinions  upon  a 
still  controverted  subject,  the  use  of  the  Athanas- 
ian  Creed. 

"The  point  to  remember  about  the  Athanasian 
Creed  is  that  it  is  not  unbelief  or  infidelity,  how- 
ever extreme,  that  is  aimed  at,  but  apostasy, — 
which  means  an  immoral  surrender  of  the  faith, 
such  as  were  too  common  among  the  orthodox  dur- 
ing the  Vandal  persecutions  of  the  first  half  of  the 
fifth  century  in  the  south  of  France,  Spain,  and 
North  Africa. 


280  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

"The  Vandals  were  Arians  from  the  date  of 
their  conversion  to  Christianity;  and  used  brib- 
ery, persecution  of  minor  kinds,  and  the  sword 
to  persuade  the  Catholics  to  renounce  the  faith  in 
which  they  had  been  brought  up.  The  case  be- 
fore the  mind  of  Hilary  (or  whoever  it  was  that 
wrote  the  Athanasian  Psalm  Quicunque  Vult)  was 
not  that  of  a  man  really,  i.  e,  conscientiously  con- 
vinced by  processes  of  reasoning  that  the  Catholic 
Faith  was  imtrue,  but  that  of  a  man  who,  for  a 
morsel  of  bread,  or,  if  you  will,  for  life  itself 
would  profess  the  new  faith  of  the  conquering 
barbarians.  I  cannot  in  a  short  letter  shew  you 
that  such  were  in  all  probability  the  historical  con- 
ditions under  which  the  Creed  (or  rather  battle- 
song  to  brace  the  courage  of  the  faint-hearted)  was 
written.  But,  if  you  will  assume  that  this  is  the 
case,  it  will  lessen  the  difficulty  of  accepting  the 
Creed:  though  it  leaves  perfectly  open  the  ques- 
tion whether  it  is  desirable  that  a  document  so 
liable  to  be  misunderstood  should  be  retained  in 
the  Prayerbook. 

"There  is  such  a  sin  as  denying  Christ,  and 
there  is  a  punishment  attached  to  it — ^the  being 
denied  by  Christ  before  His  Father — ^I  know  you 
not,  depart  from  Me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting 
fire,'  etc.  The  Quicunque  Vult,  I  suppose,  means 
neither  more  or  less  than  this,  whatever  the  latter 
really  means." 

Nor   did   his   interest   in   his   students   cease 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  281 

when  they  left  College  to  enter  the  ministry  of 
the  Church.  It  was  a  sight  worth  seeing  at  meet- 
ings of  the  Representative  Council  to  watch  his 
intentness  when  one  of  his  old  pupils  rose  to  speak. 
However  dull  and  bored  he  looked  before,  he  would 
now  waken  up  and  listen  as  if  some  most  wise  and 
important  person  were  speaking.  On  occasion  he 
would  even  rise  himself  to  supplement  or  enforce 
the  arguments,  perhaps  imperfectly  advanced,  of 
such  an  one.  And  so  it  was  in  many  other  import- 
ant directions.  Thirty  years  ago  the  Scottish 
Episcopal  Church  was  suffering  from  a  bad  at- 
tack of  gentility.  For  all  important  appoint- 
ments, almost  without  exception,  it  was  the  rule 
to  choose  men  of  English  birth  and  training,  while 
to  the  Scottish  clergy,  trained  in  the  Church's  own 
institution,  the  lot  of  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers 
of  water — to  use  Dr.  Dowden's  indignant  phrase — 
was  usually  all  that  was  offered.  Irishman  though 
he  was,  Dowden  made  it  part  of  his  life's  work  to 
remedy  this  state  of  matters,  and  the  great  change 
which  of  recent  years  has  taken  place  in  this  re- 
spect is  in  the  main  to  be  ascribed  to  him. 

In  the  year  1884  came  the  publication  of  the 
book  which  first  brought  Dr.  Dowden's  gifts  as  a 
liturgical  scholar  into  wide  prominence.  The  An- 
notated Scottish  Communion  Office,  containing  as 
it  did  an  historical  treatment  of  the  American  Of- 
fice, and  dedicated  as  it  was  to  the  American  Bish- 


282  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

ops,"  was  naturally  received  with  great  interest  in 
the  Church  of  America.  At  home  this,  the  stand- 
ard work  on  the  subject,  marked  a  new  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  Scottish  OflS.ce.  It  turned  the 
tide  of  opinion  which  for  long  had  been  setting  in 
the  direction  of  depreciation,  into  the  opposite  di- 
rection of  ever  rising  appreciation.  Since  1884 
the  intrinsic  merits  of  the  national  liturgy  have 
become  more  widely  and  intelligently  recognised 
than  they  were  before,  even  among  Scottish  Church 
people  accustomed  to  its  use. 

Two  years  later  the  see  of  Edinburgh  became 
vacant  through  the  death  of  Bishop  Cotterill,  and 
Canon  Dowden's  name  was  brought  forward  in 
connection  with  the  election  of  a  successor.  Learn- 
ing, however,  that  Canon  Liddon  was  also  to  be 
proposed,  Dowden  refused  to  allow  himself  to 
be  voted  on.  Liddon,  however,  declined  the  offer, 
and  the  Pantonian  Professor  was  then  elected. 
Among  the  warmest  letters  of  congratulation  which 
reached  him  were  those  from  several  Bishops  and 
other  friends  in  America.  He  was  consecrated  on 
the  21st  of  September,  1866,  by  the  six  other  Scot- 
tish Bishops  and  Bishop  Lightfoot  of  Durham.  The 

^*  "To  the  Bishops  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  America, 
whose  succession  may  be  traced  through  Samuel  Seabury, 
consecrated  by  Scottish  Bishops  at  Aberdeen,  fourteenth 
November,  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-four,  this  account 
of  the  Eucharistic  Office  Books  of  the  Scottish  and  Am- 
erican Churches,  is  with  profound  respect  dedicated  by  a 
presbyter  of  the  Scottish  Church." 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  283 

sermon  was  preached  bj  the  new  Bishop's  old 
friend,  Dr.  Salmon  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 

Dr.  Dowden's  Episcopate  may  be  divided  into 
two  stages,  the  earlier  in  which  the  bent  of  his 
mind  was  mainly  ecclesiastical,  the  later  in  which 
the  prominent  characteristics  were  rather  those  of 
the  student.  At  first  he  incurred  a  good  deal  of 
odium  among  the  general  public  of  Edinburgh  by 
the  strict  line  which  he  took  with  regard  to  An- 
glican ecclesiastics  appearing  ofiicially  in  Presby- 
terian churches  in  the  city.  His  adoption  of  the 
signature  ^^J.  Edenburgen"  also  gave  great  offence 
to  the  many  Edinburgh  citizens  who  were  un- 
friendly to  prelacy.  A  fierce  newspaper  campaign 
ensued,  which  the  Bishop  treated  with  calmness 
and  dignity.  The  most  extraordinary  accusations 
were  made,  only  to  be  quietly  and  effectively  re- 
plied to,  and  eventually  the  controversy  died  down. 
As  time  went  on  Dr.  Dowden's  principles  were 
better  understood,  and  at  the  same  time  his  emi- 
nence as  a  scholar  made  itself  growingly  felt  in 
the  community.  The  contrast  is  indeed  a  striking 
one,  between  his  early  unpopularity  in  Edinburgh, 
and  the  kindly  feeling  with  which  he  was  later  on 
regarded  as  a  distinguished  citizen  of  the  Scottish 
metropolis. 

It  would  be  beside  the  purpose  of  this  lecture 
to  give  more  than  an  outline  of  Bishop  Dowden's 
scholarly  activities.     He  was  one  of  the  founders 


284  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

of  the  Scottish  History  Society,  which  under  the 
presidency  of  Lord  Rosebery  has  published  an 
important  series  of  historical  works  and  still  con- 
tinues to  issue  its  publications.  The  first  meet- 
ing of  the  society  was  held  in  the  Theological 
College,  Rosebery  Crescent,  and  three  of  its  vol- 
umes" were  edited,  partly  or  entirely,  by  Dow- 
den.  He  was  an  enthusiastic  member  of  the  Scot- 
tish Ecclesiological  Society,  and  served  a  term  as  its 
president.  He  was  also  a  vice-president  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  and  contributed 
to  its  publications  from  time  to  time.  In  1901 
he  was  selected  to  deliver  the  Rhind  lectures  in  con- 
nection with  this  society,  and  took  as  his  subject 
The  Constitution,  Organization,  and  Law  of  the 
Mediaeval  Church  in  Scotland,  These  lectures 
were  afterwards  amplified,  and  were  published 
soon  after  his  death."  Marked  by  all  the  author's 
characteristic  accuracy  and  width  of  knowledge, 
this  work  is  of  the  highest  value,  and  is  indeed  in- 
dispensable to  students  of  the  period. 

An  earlier  historical  publication  on  The  Celtic 
Church  in  Scotland ^^  still  enjoys  popularity  as  a 
compact  and  reliable  summary  of  the  known  facts. 


"  The  Correspondence  of  the  LoAiderdale  Family  with 
Archbishop  Sharp,  1893.  The  Chartiilary  of  the  Ahhey  of 
Lindores  1903,  and  The  Charters  of  Inchaffray  Ahhey  1908. 
Of  this  last  Dr.  J.  Maitland  Thomson  was  co-editor. 

"Glasgow.    1910.     The  Mediaeval  Church  in  Scotland. 

"  S.  P.  C.  K.,  London,  1894. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  285 

written  with  great  freshness  and  charm  of  style. 
Another  posthumous  publication^  The  Bishops  of 
Scotland,^''  was  written  to  supplement  Bishop 
Keith's  Catalogue,  and  illustrates  the  extraordinary 
pains  and  diligence  with  which  Bishop  Dowden 
sought  to  ascertain  his  dates  and  other  facts  from 
musty  documents  in  the  Eegister  House  and  else- 
where. His  modest  claim  is  well  justified  for  all 
who  use  the  book.  ^^In  researches  covering  so 
great  a  field  it  can  hardly  be  expected  that  no 
errors  will  have  crept  in.  But  it  is  confidently  al- 
leged that  the  following  lists  are  much  superior  to 
any  which  have  preceded  them."  " 

In  the  region  of  liturgical  study  Dr.  Dowden 
was  an  acknowledged  authority.  In  1899  he  pub- 
lished The  Workmanship  of  the  Prayer  Book,  in 
which  the  literary  character  of  the  work  done  by 
the  Reformers  and  subsequent  revisers  was  re- 
viewed, and  suggestions  were  offered  in  the  direc- 
tion of  further  revisal.  This  was  followed  in  1908 
by  Further  Studies  in  the  Prayer  Book,  in  which, 
among  other  features,  special  attention  was  paid  to 
the  influence  of  German  Service-Books  on  the  Eng- 
lish forms  of  service.  But  it  was  in  connection 
with  the  revised  Scottish  Liturgy  of  1912,  and  the 
revision  of  the  English  Prayer  Book  for  use  in 
Scotland,''  that  the  Bishop's  liturgical  gifts  found 
their  most  practical  scope. 

"  Glasgow  1912.  "  p.  xi. 

^^  The  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  etc.   .    .    .   and  the  Scot- 


286  BIOGRAPHICAL  8TUDIE8  IN 

Although  the  Scottish  Church  does  not  yet 
possess  what  can  be  fairly  called  a  Scottish 
Prayer  Book,  she  now  has  at  least  a  Scottish 
Edition  of  the  English  Book.  And  although 
Dr.  Dowden  died  two  years  before  this  was 
published,  its  existence  was  due  in  the  main  to 
his  enthusiasm  and  his  knowledge.  From  1894 
till  1902  a  committee  of  the  Edinburgh  diocesan 
Synod  was  working,  in  collaboration  with  com- 
mittes  of  the  other  dioceses,  at  a  Kevision  of  the 
Canons,  which  involved  a  number  of  suggested  re- 
forms of  the  Prayer  Book.  Again  in  the  year 
1906  a  private  committee  of  diocesan  clergy  was 
appointed  by  Dr.  Dowden  to  consider  with  him 
more  fully  the  revision  of  the  Prayer  Book.  The 
suggestions  of  this  body  formed  the  bulk  of  the  per- 
missive additions  and  deviations  which  were  even- 
tually approved  of  by  the  Provincial  Council. 
Needless  to  say  the  main  inspiring  and  guiding  in- 
fluence in  the  whole  movement  came  from  the 
Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  whose  moderation  in  aim, 
exhaustive  knowledge,  and  refined  delicacy  of 
touch  ensured  for  the  revision  a  favourable  recep- 
tion throughout  the  Church.  In  the  additional 
prayers  for  various  occasions  his  hand  may  be 
easily  traced.  He  possessed  the  rare  gift  of  com- 
posing a  good  collect,  and  some  of  his  prayers  are 

tish  Liturgy,  and  the  permissible  additions  to  and  devior 
tions  from  the  service  hooks  of  the  Scottish  Church,  a^ 
canonically  sanctioned,     Edinburgh.     1912. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  287 

of  great  beauty.  Several  of  the  collects  inserted 
in  the  revised  Prayer  Book  had  been  in  use  in  the 
Edinburgh  diocese  for  years  previously. 

As  a  theologian  Dr.  Dowden  was  strongest  on 
the  historical  side.  His  chief  publication  in  this 
department  was  his  Outlines  of  the  history  of  the 
Theological  Literature  of  the  Church  of  England 
from  the  reformation  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century, "^^  These  were  delivered  in  America  as  the 
Bishop  Paddock  Lectures,  and  they  are  dedicated 
to  the  Dean,  Professors,  and  Students  of  the  Gen- 
eral Theological  Seminary,  New  York.  Dr.  Dow- 
den had  a  warm  interest  in  the  sister  Church  of 
America,  and  he  was  a  close  student  of  its  Prayer 
Book.  As  may  easily  be  imagined,  therefore,  his 
visit  to  America  in  order  to  deliver  these  lectures 
was  to  him  full  of  interest  and  enjoyment.  The 
impressions  which  he  brought  back  of  men  and  of 
cities,  especially  of  the  unbounded  hospitality  and 
kindness  which  he  met  everywhere,  were  of  the 
most  vivid  and  happy  description. 

Time  fails  to  speak  of  his  knowledge  of  books 
and  his  love  of  literature  and  music.  He  was  par- 
ticularly fond  of  children,  and  among  the  learned 
tomes  in  his  study  it  was  possible  on  occasion  to 
find  books  with  pictures  of  the  kind  that  appeal  to 
little  visitors.  To  the  end  of  his  life  his  mind  was 
as  alert  as  ever,  and  there  seemed  little  or  no  dim- 


^«  London.     1897. 


288  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

inution  of  his  bodily  strength.  At  the  Lambeth 
Conference  of  1908,  for  instance,  he  took  a  telling 
part  in  several  of  the  discussions,  bringing  to  bear 
on  various  knotty  points  his  keen  intellect,  and  his 
incisive  wit.  He  continued  to  lecture  at  the  Theo- 
logical College  until  a  day  or  two  before  his  death. 
The  end  came  very  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  on 
the  30th  of  January,  1910.  It  seemed  impossible 
to  believe  that  a  personality  so  alive  and  so  power- 
ful as  his  had  so  quickly  passed  away.  And  still 
the  blank  caused  by  his  loss  is  to  be  felt.  For  he 
was  in  his  day  the  Church's  Scholar-Bishop,  a  wise 
and  shrewd  adviser,  a  far-seeing  ruler,  the  most 
loyal  of  friends  and  the  most  chivalrous  of  oppon- 
ents, a  man  of  simple  heart  who  strove  to  give  of 
his  best  to  the  Church  and  the  Church's  Master. 


APPENDIX  A 

Hymns  Attributed  to  St.  Columba 

In  Adamnan's  Life  we  find  a  story  of  a  book  in 
Columba's  handwriting,  which  contained  hymns 
for  weekly  use,  (Hymnorum  liber  septimaniorum 
sanctae  Columhae  manu  descriptus,  II,  8.),  and 
from  the  same  authority  we  learn  that  hymns 
were  sung  in  the  Church  at  lona  on  the  day  that 
the  Saint  died.  (Hymnis  matutinalihus  terminatis. 
III.  23.) 

It  would  be  too  much  to  assume  that  these 
hymns  were  composed  by  Columba,  but  it  is  of 
great  interest  to  find  certain  hymns  and  verses  at- 
tributed to  him  in  an  eleventh  century  MS.  col- 
lection of  hymns  and  prayers  in  Latin  and  Irish, 
which  were  used  in  the  worship  of  the  early  Celtic 
Church. 

Whether  this  Irish  Liber  Hymnorum  was  a 
hymnbook  for  actual  use,  or  whether  it  was  a 
collection  made  by  some  Celtic  antiquarian  at  the 
time  when  Celtic  characteristics  were  disappearing, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  its  contents  are  very  ancient. 
A  part  of  these  were  published  by  Dr.  J.  H.  Todd 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Irish  Archaeological  and 
Celtic   Society,   while  more  recently  the   Henry 


290  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

Bradshaw  Society  has  made  the  whole  book  easily 
accessible  in  two  of  its  volumes  produced  under  the 
care  of  Dr.  Bernard  and  Professor  Atkinson. 

Three  of  the  Latin  hymns,  and  one  in  Irish, 
along  with  various  Irish  verses,  are  attributed  with 
varying  degrees  of  confidence  to  the  authorship  of 
Columba.  The  most  famous  of  the  Latin  hymns 
is  the  Alius,  so  called  from  its  opening  words : 

"Altus  Prosator  Vetustus 
Dierum  et  ingenitus." 

A  rendering  of  its  twenty  two  stanzas  of  rude 
Latin,  each  beginning  with  a  successive  letter  of 
the  alphabet,  is  printed  in  Dowden's  Celtic  Church 
in  Scotland,  (p.  321)  and,  slightly  amended,  in 
Trenholme's  Story  of  lona  (p  156.) 

Below  is  printed  a  rendering  of  another  hymn 
the  attribution  of  which  to  Columba  is  perhaps  less 
certain. 

"In  te  Christe  credentium  miserearis  omnium, 
tu  es  deus  in  saecula  saeculorum  in  gloria." 

According  to  one  of  the  legends,  Columba 
wrote  only  the  second  half  of  the  poem. 

The  version  given  below  was  sung  at  the  Co- 
lumba commemoration  service  held  in  Edinburgh 
Cathedral  on  9th  June,  1897,  and  also  in  Ireland 
in  connection  with  a  similar  event. 

The  third  Latin  hymn  begins  thus: — 

"Noli  pater  indulgere  tonitrua  cum  fulgore, 
ac  frangamur  formidine  hujus  atque  uridine," 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  291 

while  the   Irish   hymn   sings   the   praises   of   St. 

Brigid. 

In  te  Chbiste  ceedentium 
Christ,  have  pity  on  Thy  servants, 

For  we  put  our  trust  in  Thee. 
Thou  art  God  in  glory  reigning 

Unto  all  eternity. 
Stretch  Thy  mighty  arm  to  help  us, 

Worn  with  labours,  wearied  sore, 
Hasten  Thee  to  our  assistance. 

Heal  our  anguish  evermore. 

Father  of  Thy  trusting  children. 

Life  of  all  our  living  hours. 
Thou  art  God  all  gods  excelling, 

Power  supreme  above  all  powers.  * 
God,  the  Framer  of  creation. 

Judge  of  judges,  King  of  kings, 
In  whose  praise  the  universe's 

Elemental  chorus  rings. 

Thine  are  all  the  costly  treasures 

Of  Jerusalem  on  high: 
Lord  of  life,  and  King  of  glory. 

Light  of  light  eternally. 
Thee  no  words  of  man  can  utter. 

Highest  heaven  holds  Thy  throne. 
Yet  beyond  all  price  or  pleasure 

Thou  art  dear  unto  Thine  own. 

Christ,  Redeemer  of  the  nations. 

Of  Thy  love  the  virgins  sing; 
Thou  the  Fountain  art  of  wisdom, 

Thou  the  Faith  to  which  we  cling. 
Armour  of  Thy  valiant  soldiers. 

By  whose  hand  all  things  were  made, 
Christ,  Salvation  of  the  living. 

Of  the  dying.  Life  indeed. 


^  Virtus  virtutum.     Probably  the  powers  which  the  an- 
cient Celts  believed  to  reside  in  the  sun,  winds,  rivers,  etc. 


292  BIOGRAPHICAL  8TUDIE8 

He  has  crowned  our  conquering  army, 

And  the  band  of  martyrs  brave, 
Christ,  who  on  the  Cross  was  lifted, 

Christ,  who  came  the  world  to  save. 
Christ,  who  suffered  to  redeem  us. 

Vanquished  hell,  uprose  to  heaven; 
Christ,  to  whom  His  ne*er  relinquished 

Seat  at  God's  right  hand  was  given. 

Glory  be  to  Grod  the  Father, 

Uncreated,  in  the  height; 
Praise  to  Thee,  the  Sole-Begotten 

Only  Son,  supreme  in  might. 
To  the  Holy,  Perfect  Spirit, 

Ever-gracious,  honour  be. 
Amen,  Amen  never  ending, 

Rise  through  all  eternity. 


APPENDIX  B 

Date  and  Authorship  of  St.  Margaket^s  Life 

We  can  easily  fix  within  a  few  years  the  period 
at  which  this  work  was  written.  It  is  dedicated 
to  Matilda,  Queen  of  the  English,  (Prologue)  and 
her  brother  Edgar  is  described  as  reigning  on  his 
father's  throne  (Chap.  31).  Now  Matilda  married 
Henry  I.  of  England  in  1100  and  died  in  1118, 
(Symeon,  Historia  Regum  c.  c.  182  and  195,), 
while  Edgar's  reign  lasted  from  1097  to  1107. 
Thus  the  Life  must  have  been  composed  between 
the  years  1100  and  1107,  from  seven  to  fourteen 
years  after  the  death  of  Margaret  in  1093. 

This  calculation  is  quite  consistent  with  Tur- 
got's  authorship  of  the  work,  for  he  was  elected 
Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  in  1107,  and  consecrated  in 
1109.  The  doubt  on  this  point  is  caused  by  the 
evidence  of  the  two  manuscripts  on  the  Life  which 
still  exist.  One  of  them,  which  is  now  in  the 
British  Museum  (Cotton,  Tiberius,  D.  Ill),  in- 
dicates the  author  as  T.,  Servorum  Cuthherti  ser- 
vus,  while  the  other,  which  is  printed  in  the  Acta 
Sanctorum,  inserts  Theodericus  for  T.    The  author 


{Codex  Valcellensis,  in  Hannoniae  Monasterio). 


294  BIOGRAPHICAL  8TUDIE8 

was,  therefore,  a  monk  of  Durham,  but  whether 
he  was  the  Prior  Turgot,  or  the  monk  Theoderic, 
whose  name  appears  on  the  list  of  monks  of  Dur- 
ham, it  is  not  so  easy  to  decide.  One  difficulty 
lies  in  the  question,  if  the  famous  Prior  was  the 
author,  why  the  attribution  to  a  comparatively  ob- 
scure monk  ?  It  is  easier  to  explain  how  the  con- 
verse might  have  taken  place,  and  to  suppose  that 
Fordun  and  other  early  writers  may  have  unwit- 
tingly given  rise  to  an  erroneous  tradition/ 

Dr.  Dowden,  however,  claims  that  Turgot's 
authorship  is  accepted  by  "the  almost  universal 
concurrence  of  scholars",'  while  Professor  Hume 
Brown  says,  "it  seems  almost  certain  that  Turgot 
was  the  author  of  the  book."  (History  of  Scotland 
Vol.  I,  p.  62.     University  Press,  Camb.,  1902.) 

*  See  Surtees  Society  Publications,  Vol.  LI  p.  Ivii. 

*  Celtic  Church  in  Scotland,  p.  271. 


APPENDIX  C 

Lanfbanc^s  Letter  to  Margaret 
(Migne,  Patrologia  Latina.  Vol.  CL.  p.  550.) 

"LanfranCj  the  unworthy  Bishop  of  the  holy 
Church  of  Canterbury,  to  Margaret  the  illustrious 
Queen  of  the  Scots,  peace  and  blessing. 

^^A  short  letter  cannot  reveal  the  greatness  of 
the  joy  with  which  you  flooded  my  heart  through 
the  perfect  letter  which,  O  queen  beloved  by  God, 
you  sent  me.  How  pleasantly  the  words  flow  forth, 
which  proceed  from  the  inspiration  of  the  Divine 
Spirit.  For  I  believe  that  what  you  wrote  was 
uttered  not  by  you  but  for  you.  Verily  by  your 
mouth  He  spoke,  who  says  to  His  disciples  ^^learn 
from  Me  for  I  am  meek  and  humble  of  heart."  It 
is  from  this  teaching  of  Christ  that  it  has  come 
about  that  you,  the  daughter  of  a  royal  line,  roy- 
ally reared,  and  nobly  linked  to  a  noble  king, 
choose  as  your  father  me,  a  person  of  foreign  birth, 
a  common  man  without  nobility,  encompassed  by 
sins,  and  pray  that  I  should  regard  you  as  a  spirit- 
ual daughter.  I  am  not  what  you  think,  but  may 
I  be  because  you  think  it.  That  you  may  be  no 
more  mistaken,  pray  for  me  that  I  may  be  a  father 


296  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES 

worthy  to  pray  to  God  and  to  be  heard  on  your 
behalf.  Let  there  be  a  mutual  interchange  be- 
tween us  of  prayers  and  benefits.  Few  indeed  I 
give,  but  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  receive  many  more. 
Henceforth  therefore  let  me  be  your  father,  and  be 
you  my  daughter. 

"I  send  to  your  illustrious  husband  and  to  you, 
our  well  beloved  brother,  Goldewin,  in  accordance 
with  your  request,  and  two  other  brothers  also,  be- 
cause he  alone  by  himself  could  not  perform  the 
service  to  God  and  to  you  which  needs  to  be  ren- 
dered. I  also  ask,  and  ask  urgently  that  you  strive 
to  accomplish  at  once  and  effectually  what  you 
have  begun  for  the  sake  of  God  and  of  your  souls, 
and  if  you  could  or  would  fulfil  your  work  through 
the  agency  of  others,  we  would  desire  with  much 
longing  that  these  brethren  of  ours  should  return 
to  us,  for  they  are  very  necessary  to  our  Church  in 
their  duties.  Yet  let  your  will  be  done,  because 
I  am  anxious  to  obey  you  in  all  things  and  by 
every  means.  May  God  Almighty  bless  you,  and 
of  His  mercy  absolve  you  from  all  your  sins." 


APPENDIX  D 

ASSYTHMENT 

In  the  modern  practice  of  the  Scottish  Law 
Courts  crime  is  held  to  be  essential  to  support  a 
claim  for  assjthment,  which  is  the  reparation  due 
to  their  relatives  of  a  person  who  has  been  killed, 
by  the  person  who  committed  the  homicide.  Thus 
in  the  year  1870,  in  a  case  promoted  by  the  rela- 
tives of  a  man  who  had  been  killed  in  a  railway 
accident,  the  Lord  President  declared  in  the  court 
of  session,  "This  is  not  an  action  of  assythment, 
and  it  does  not  partake  in  any  degree  of  the  nature 
of  such  an  action  for  this  among  other  reasons,  that 
no  crime  has  been  committed  by  the  defenders." 
{Scottish  Jurist:  Vol.  XLIL  p.  577.) 

Older  legal  authorities  however  distinguish  be- 
tween two  kinds  of  assythment,  viz:  assythment 
proper  which  arises  out  of  a  criminal  act,  and 
those  other  cases  where,  although  on  criminal  prose- 
cution would  lie  for  the  homicide,  it  has  been  oc- 
casioned by  some  fault  on  the  part  of  an  individ- 
ual. (See  Prof.  More's  Lectures  on  the  Law  of 
Scotland,  1864,  p.  348).  To  make  this  clear  the 
statement  of  Lord  Kames  on  the  subject  may  be 


298  BIOGRAPHICAL  STUDIES  IN 

quoted.  (Select  decisions  of  the  Court  of  Session. 
1780  p.  326.) 

"The  term  Assythment  bears  two  significa- 
tions in  our  law.  In  the  most  common  sense  it 
is  the  same  with  the  vergelt,  that  composition  in 
money  which  anciently  was  paid  by  the  criminal 
to  the  person  he  had  injured,  or  to  his  relations. 
In  a  sense  less  common,  though  far  from  rare,  it 
is  the  same  with  reparation  of  the  loss  I  have 
sustained  by  any  wrong  done  me.  In  the  first 
sense,  assythment  is  a  punishment  inflicted  upon 
the  delinquent,  and  is  awarded  to  the  person  in- 
jured, for  gratifying  his  resentment.  ...  In  the 
other  sense,  assythment,  being  a  species  of  repara- 
tion, produces  a  civil  action  for  damages  propor- 
tioned to  the  extent  of  the  mischief  done." 

In  the  year  1649  an  act  of  Parliament  was 
passed  "anent  the  several  degrees  of  casual  homi- 
cide,'' which  illustrates  this  statement  (Acts  of 
Parliament  of  Scotland  Vol  II,  part  II  p.  173.) 
After  ordaining  that  a  list  of  cases  of  homicide, 
which  begins  with  casual  homicide,  and  homicide 
in  lawful  defence,  shall  not  be  punished  by  death, 
notwithstanding  former  laws  or  practice,  it  pro- 
vides that  "in  the  case  of  homicide  casuall  and  of 
homicide  in  defence,  notwithstanding  that  the  man- 
slayer  is  be  this  act  fred  from  capitall  punishment, 
yet  it  shall  be  lesum  to  the  Cheeff  Justice  Court 
with  advice  of  the  counsall  to  fyne  him  in  his 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  299 

meanes  to  the  use  of  the  defunct's  wyf e  and  bairnes 
or  nearest  of  kin,  or  to  imprison  him." 

Reference  may  also  be  made  to  a  curious  pro- 
vision in  the  well  known  legal  compendium  called 
Begiam  Majestatem  which,  although  probably 
mainly  of  English  origin,  seems  to  have  been  of 
authority  in  Scotland  after  the  12th  century.  If 
a  man  on  horseback  ride  down  any  one  in  front  of 
him  he  shall  pay  cro  and  galnes  as  if  he  had  slain 
him  with  his  hands:  but  if  a  person  behind  him 
is  killed  by  his  horse  he  shall  pay  the  fourth  foot 
or  the  fourth  part  of  the  value  of  the  horse  only. 
(Acts  of  Parliament  of  Scotland  I.  637.) 


APPENDIX  E 

Seat  Rents  Under  the  Penal  Laws 

A  curious  document  is  preserved  in  the  Rec- 
tory of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Fraserburgh,  in  Aber- 
deenshire, which  illustrates  the  method  of  accom- 
modating a  congregation  in  a  private  house,  at  a 
date  when  the  penal  laws  were  being  less  rigorous- 
ly enforced.  It  is  "an  account  of  Seat  Rents  at 
Middleburgh  [about  a  mile  outside  the  town]  col- 
lected from  Mr.  William  Walker's  hearers  by 
Thos.  Kilgour"  for  the  years  1760  and  1761.  It 
appears  that  the  minister's  place  was  in  the  middle 
of  the  "Trans"  or  passage,  where  five  or  six  of  his 
congregation,  including  the  precentor,  sat  at  his 
right  hand,  and  a  similar  number  on  his  left.  In 
the  "East  Room"  over  thirty  of  the  faithful,  in- 
cluding "My  Lady  Saltoun,"  were  provided  for, 
while  more  than  forty  were  contained  in  the  "West 
Room."  The  "Middle  Room"  accommodated  six- 
teen worshippers,  and  ten  found  places  in  the 
"Trans  seat  leading  to  West  Room."  Even  the 
"Long  Sadie  Bed"  which  seems  to  have  been  situ- 
ated in  the  kitchen  was  called  into  requisition, 
and  provided  seats  for  seven  of  the  congregation. 


SCOTTISH  CHURCH  HISTORY  301 

For  these  ^^sittings"  sums  varying  from  ten  shil- 
lings to  a  shilling  per  annum  were  paid,  a  few, 
probably  on  account  of  their  poverty,  not  contrib- 
uting at  all.  The  total  income  from  the  rents  in 
1760  amounted  to  £7-0-9,  and  was  handed  over  to 
the  minister. 


APPENDIX  F 

The  Modern  Scottish  Cathedrals 

In  four  of  the  Scottish  dioceses  the  Cathedrals 
were  built  as  such,  while  in  the  three  remaining 
instances  parochial  churches  have  been  chosen  to 
hold  the  Bishops'  chairs.  The  earliest  was  that 
in  the  island  of  Cumbrae,  dedicated  to  the  Holy 
Spirit,  built  in  1849  and  consecrated  in  1876  as 
Cathedral  of  the  Isles  and  Pro-Cathedral  of  Argyll. 
Then  came  St.  Ninian's,  Perth,  partly  built  and 
consecrated  in  1850  as  Cathedral  of  St.  Andrews, 
Dunkeld,  and  Dunblane:  St.  Andrew's,  Inverness, 
built  1869,  consecrated  1874,  as  Cathedral  of 
Moray,  Ross,  and  Caithness ;  and  St.  Mary's,  Edin- 
burgh, built  and  consecrated  in  1879.  In  the  dio- 
cese of  Brechin  the  Church  of  St.  Paul  in  Dundee 
(built  1855,  cons.  1865)  was  constituted  the  Cathe- 
dral in  1905 ;  in  the  diocese  of  Glasgow  and  Gallo- 
way, St.  Mary's  Church,  Glasgow  (built  1871, 
cons.  1884)  was  similarly  dealt  with  in  1908,  the 
list  being  completed  in  1914  by  the  constitution  of 
St.  Andrew's  Church,  Aberdeen  (built  1816,  cons. 
1864)  as  Cathedral  of  the  United  diocese  of  Aber- 
deen and  Orkney. 


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